Christians across the United Kingdom have good reason to give thanks to God following the Scottish Parliament’s rejection of a bill to legalise assisted suicide. By 69 votes to 57, MSPs refused to open the door to a system that would have allowed doctors to help terminally ill patients end their lives.
Church leaders in Scotland captured the heart of the matter when they wrote, ‘True compassion does not mean helping someone to die, but committing ourselves to care for them in life.’ That reflects the biblical conviction that every human life is precious because it is created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27).
The proposal, brought forward by Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur, would have permitted adults with less than six months to live to obtain medical assistance to kill themselves. Yet many rightly recognised the grave moral and practical dangers involved. Medical bodies, disability groups, and church leaders all warned that such legislation would place vulnerable people at risk and undermine the fundamental duty of doctors to care for their patients.
Church leaders in Scotland captured the heart of the matter when they wrote, ‘True compassion does not mean helping someone to die, but committing ourselves to care for them in life.’ That reflects the biblical conviction that every human life is precious because it is created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27).
The Reformed tradition has long emphasised this duty. The sixth commandment requires us to preserve life and care for those in need. Assisted suicide turns that principle on its head. Instead of offering death to the suffering, our society should strengthen palliative care and support the dying with dignity and love. For now, Scotland has stepped back from a dangerous path. For that mercy, we should give thanks to the Lord.
Religious illiteracy?
The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, is surely right when he says there is an ‘appalling lack of religious literacy in so much of the BBC.’ But it’s a bit rich coming from the Church of England. The hierarchy of the Anglican Church have themselves been offloading biblical truth for decades, if not longer. If the Archbishop wants to remove the speck of dust from the BBC’s eye, he should perhaps start by taking the plank out of his own eye first.
