Tag: Assisted Suicide

Christians Came Together to Help Defeat UK’s Assisted Dying Bill

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Houses of Parliament and Big Ben beside the River Thames

When Alicia Edmund heard the Parliament vote count for the UK’s assisted dying bill last week—286 noes to 270 ayes—her immediate reaction was shock. The bill had been defeated.   As head of policy for the Evangelical Alliance in the UK, Edmund had spent countless hours in the past two years briefing evangelicals on how to share their concerns with their members of Parliament (MPs) and coordinating campaign efforts with other Christian groups to defeat the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.

While sitting in the public gallery of the Palace of Westminster as the House of Commons gathered last Friday, she had already prepared herself for defeat and the need to “go again” at fighting the legislation, she said. Sorry, something went wrong. Please try again. “When the deputy speaker said 286 against, I thought, That’s not high enough. And when she said 270 for … I was silent,” Edmund recalled. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Normally a lot of our work is making the case for delay and disruption, whereas this one we won outright and it felt quite weird,” she said. “It felt different. It was a momentary celebration of ‘Lord, you can do all things.’” The vote followed nearly two years of passionate debate over assisted dying in England. Kim Leadbeater, a Labour Party MP from the North of England, first introduced the bill in October 2024.

The bill would have allowed adults to request assistance from doctors to end their own lives, provided they had mental capacity, were terminally ill, and were in their final six months of life. The bill passed narrowly in the publicly elected House of Commons by just 23 votes last year. But it stalled in the appointed House of Lords, where members submitted more than 1,200 amendments and time ran out, prompting supporters to complain that the bill had been “undemocratically filibustered by a small number of peers.” The legislation returned to the House of Commons in June, presented by another Labour MP, Lauren Edwards, who described it as “one of the most important, compassionate, and empowering changes to healthcare we’ve seen in a generation.”

The legislation generated intense debate not only in Parliament but also among the public as people debated what dignity, choice, and compassion mean when it comes to dying. More than a decade ago, supporters of assisted suicide presented a similar bill to MPs, and it was easily defeated.

The Group

Members of the Evangelical Alliance, which represents 30,000 individual members and 3,000 member churches, let the organization’s leadership know early in the bill’s journey that they were concerned, Edmund said. It was not difficult to mobilize them to campaign against its passage. “Of all of our public policy areas, death is probably the most common experience: People have experienced a loved one who has died, they themselves have a view on that, and faith engages very directly to the heart of that,” she said. Not every Evangelical Alliance member opposed the bill.

Edmund recalled attending one local church meeting in 2025 where some congregants spoke out in favor of the legislation. For instance, George Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury who held evangelical beliefs, announced in 2014 that he had changed his mind on euthanasia after witnessing the suffering of Tony Nicklinson, a man paralyzed by locked-in syndrome. Nicklinson died shortly after losing a High Court battle to gain assistance to end his own life. But among the Evangelical Alliance’s base, Edmund found overwhelming opposition to the change. Part of her team’s work entailed educating evangelicals about what was at stake and “myth busting,” she said.

Some in the church needed to be “reawakened” to Christianity’s distinctive theological framing: from Genesis’s description of humanity as made in God’s image to the tension of waiting for the new heaven and earth.

Behind the Scenes

The Evangelical Alliance was also working behind the scenes as part of a coalition of Christian advocacy organizations and disability groups while seeking members who could speak from their own experience and expertise. This included medical professionals working in palliative care as well as those particularly vulnerable should the bill pass, including elderly people, ethnic minorities who have less access to palliative care, and those living with disabilities. Prayer was also pivotal, Edmund said: “Where some people were not confident to meet their MP on the specifics or share their story and provide case studies, they could be holding weekly prayer meetings around their local MP’s decision-making.”

As a heated national conversation developed, some criticized those holding religious beliefs. When the bill initially passed in the House of Commons last summer, conservative MP Nigel Huddleston regretted MPs’ “somewhat dismissive attitude expressed towards those with religious beliefs.” It is “perfectly legitimate for religious beliefs to influence one’s views on assisted dying,” he argued. He said religious people should be “respected, not sneered at.” Rather than dialing down theological content, the Evangelical Alliance was always “unapologetic” about its standpoint, Edmund said. “We are not removing [our faith] from the table.” It’s a perspective that resonates with Richard Bastable, a Church of England vicar in West London who penned a public letter opposing the legislation. “If we try to evacuate our point of view, our opinions, our ethical beliefs, our Christian principles, then we end up saying something that doesn’t really need listening to,” Bastable said.

The letter, which was published in The Daily Telegraph in November 2024, described the assisted dying bill as “a dangerous threat to our society.” The Christian faith offers a defence of the dignity of life and a call to improve the quality of life for all those living—including those who are dying,” it said. It continued,

To reduce the value of human life to physical and mental capacity and wellbeing has sinister implications for how we as a society view those who experience severe physical or mental issues, and risks that those undergoing such suffering come to see their life as of less value than others.

While Bastable initially sent the letter only to a handful of friends to add their signatures, more than 1,000 members of the clergy, including 15 leading Church of England bishops, ended up signing the letter. But what he found even more remarkable than the number of signatories was the “cross-factionalism consensus” reached: Every wing of the Church of England was represented. “It’s not always the case that the traditions within the [Church of England] can find common cause over something, especially something that has that edge of controversy about it,” he said.

“There was a sense that this was relieving people’s frustration and powerlessness in the face of something they were opposed to, but alone they wouldn’t have known how to voice that opposition.” Before MPs first debated the bill, Sarah Mullally, then bishop of London, signed an open letter from faith leaders, including the most senior leader of the Roman Catholic Church in the UK, the chief rabbi of Britain, and representatives of Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh communities. Last year, more than 100 women of different faiths signed another open letter warning that the bill “could create a new tool to harm vulnerable women,” including those in abusive or coercive relationships.

Edmund, who was among the signatories, said unanimity on life issues is not unusual among church leaders: She works regularly with Catholic leadership and the leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church. But when it came to assisted dying, she said, the Church of England spoke out “in a way they probably wouldn’t speak out in the way that Catholics and evangelicals do on the beginning of life.” The Church of England holds the belief that life begins at conception but allows for limited conditions—such as threat to the mother’s life or health—where it believes abortion is morally preferable.

Mullally, current Archbishop of Canterbury, has spoken out in the House of Lords (where she is one of 26 bishops who serve as legislators) about how her faith and her experience as a chief nurse led her to reject the bill. “Moving from nursing into ordained ministry means much of my life has been spent at bedsides alongside people as they cope with suffering and death,” she wrote in The Daily Telegraph shortly before the vote. Christians “have lived experience with those nearing death or on the margins of society, and, above all, we carry a belief that it is hope, not fear, that should guide us.” On Friday, the hopes of those opposing assisted dying were fulfilled in a narrow vote that saw the legislation fall—at least for now. Opponents composed a diverse coalition. Evangelicals stood with disability advocates, medical professionals, Christians of many different traditions, and philosophers—some of faith and some of none.

For Edmund, it was both a “victory” and a “miracle,” but she is already scanning the horizon: What comes next is not only the return of similar legislation but also a call on the church to continue the conversation about care for those at the end of life. She noted that it was a Christian woman, Dame Cicely Saunders, who pioneered the hospice movement in the country. “We as a church need to embody that in 2026,” Edmund said. “What is the vision for end-of-life care that we can provide locally, that we are prepared to invest in, to finance, to build institutions around and then create laws that facilitate?”

Source: Christians Came Together to Help Defeat UK’s Assisted Dying Bill – Christianity Today

Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.
Romans 14:3

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‘A choice to die will become a duty to die’: Churches challenge assisted dying plan for the Isle of Man

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person monitoring a dextrose

Churches on the Isle of Man are urging members of parliament to reject an assisted dying bill they say is rushed and fails to protect vulnerable people. Churches Alive in Mann represents the Church of England, Methodist Church, Catholic Church, United Reformed Church, Living Hope, Elim Onchan, Salvation Army, and Broadway Baptist. The bill is not yet law. Royal Assent was declined once over human rights concerns raised by the U.K. Ministry of Justice, and following amendments in June, the bill has been re-submitted. If assent is not granted by Aug. 13 — when the Manx parliament, known as the House of Keys, dissolves for general elections — the bill would fall. The Rev. Bill Leishman, minister of Broadway Baptist Church and assisted dying spokesman for Churches Alive in Mann, told Christian Daily International the bill was not “a done deal.” “In reality, there is still a slim chance that it will fall,” said Leishman. “Lots of Christians on this Island are praying for this,” he said. “

As to concerns should the Bill pass, the biggest issue is the impact on vulnerable people.” Leishman said the churches had noted real evidence of coercion in contexts where assisted dying has been legalized, including in Canada, the Netherlands, and Belgium. “Even without explicit and hard-to-spot coercion, there would be a subtle societal pressure,” he added. “In Oregon [U.S.], over the last few years, roughly half of people who have died through the Death With Dignity Act stated burden on family or loved ones as a reason to choose an assisted death,” said Leishman. Too many elderly or vulnerable people already feel a burden to their families, he said, without adding the pressure of assisted dying. “We are also deeply concerned about the impact this has on suicide prevention. To say to one group of people ‘Your life is worth living’ while facilitating another group to end their lives is a mismatch of values.” Leishman said the death penalty had been abolished on the Isle of Man and in the U.K. decades ago because innocent people were killed — a punishment with no remedy.

He drew a direct comparison with the bill’s effect on vulnerable people and said, “it’s the same.” “How many vulnerable people would be needlessly killed, or how many people might be coerced without detection?” he asked. “How many of those would make it worthwhile to give others a choice? We believe the risk is too great.” “Alongside our Christian calling to speak up for the voiceless and to protect the neediest in our society, the Churches on the Isle of Man are clear that life is sacred. “We have consistently called to fund Hospice more adequately, as the only safe way to help people have an end of life choice and a good death.” Churches Alive in Mann issued a statement last month titled “Response to Assisted Dying Bill Amendments,” raising concerns about the safety of the proposed law with particular focus on the most vulnerable members of Manx society. The churches welcomed several protections in the proposed Tynwald Amendments regarding mental capacity, coercion and reporting, but said “deep concerns” remained. Key protections had been “very rushed” without the usual parliamentary scrutiny, they said. The churches said the island’s democratic processes had never seen such a quick turnaround — apart from minor procedural changes — certainly not on matters of life and death.

Calling for fuller scrutiny, the churches raised concerns about the impact on hospice and palliative care funding, alongside concerns from the Isle of Man Medical Society: that the bill would spark a healthcare recruitment crisis, leave vulnerable patients exposed to undetectable coercion, and force clinicians to make unreliable life-expectancy predictions. Specific concerns remained about the requirement that an attending doctor in an assisted dying case need not have specific experience in diagnosing or managing terminal illness. With only one medical professional required — and that person not required to be a doctor despite the risk of complications — the churches warned of a lack of transparency or protection against coercion. A doctor would also be free to ignore conclusions of safeguarding and psychiatric referrals in certain circumstances, and the churches said conscientious objectors could face unemployment if they refuse to participate. “The very existence of this legislation will inevitably cause some of our elderly, disabled or vulnerable people to feel more of a burden,” the churches said in their joint statement.

“More worrying still, we believe the proposed amendments don’t go far enough in guarding against coercion. “As churches, we are often there to support people experiencing pain and difficulty, and we speak up now out of deep concern and compassion for all who would be impacted by this legislation. “For thousands of years, ‘Do not kill’ has been an ethical foundation for many civilisations. We believe that all human life is a sacred gift from God. The value of any member of our society is not determined by variable measures of the quality of life. The premature ending of individual lives will inevitably diminish the high value we place on all lives.” The churches called on Tynwald members to reject the rushed package of amendments. Dr. Graham McAll, a retired family physician on the Isle of Man and a member of Manx Duty of Care — an informal group of healthcare workers, social care workers, and others opposed to the bill — told Christian Daily International that the U.K. Ministry of Justice, which advises King Charles III, determined the bill lacked basic human rights protections under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

“Under ECHR, governments are required to protect the lives of their citizens, especially the vulnerable,” said McAll. “This Bill failed on that count and had no independent review mechanism for deaths.” A short timescale before the election led to “some inadequate rushed corrections” being proposed, bypassing the usual process, he said. For that reason, Manx Duty of Care issued a warning of a possible legal challenge in the European Court before the amendments were voted through. Now that the bill is back with the Ministry of Justice, McAll expressed concern that any resulting law could lead to unnecessary deaths. “We are very worried that this Bill could shorten people’s lives unnecessarily, that doctors will make mistakes in their prognosis, that abuse victims will be coerced, that palliative care will be undermined and underfunded, and that, in the end, a choice to die will become for many a duty to die,” said McAll.

“We, Manx Duty of Care, along with the charity Autism In Man, the Isle of Man Medical Society, and all the church denominations on the Island are firmly against this Bill. It is clear from Canada, Holland, and Belgium that once euthanasia is normalized, it spreads to those without terminal illness, and undue influence becomes common. And no drugs are licensed for this purpose anywhere in the world.” McAll called for competent Christians to stand for political election on the basis of the assisted dying issue and other relevant matters. “All candidates in the upcoming election will need to be quizzed hard on their attitude to this complex issue. It could turn centuries of medical and social ethics upside down, and our government’s suicide prevention strategy.”

Source: ‘A choice to die will become a duty to die’: Churches challenge assisted dying plan for the Isle of Man – Christian Daily International

The rich man’s wealth is his strong city, And like a high wall in his own esteem.
Proverbs 18:11

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