The “Assisted Dying” (Terminally Ill Adults- End of Life) Bill passed its second reading in the House of Commons at the end of November, 330 votes in favour, 275 against. But without adequate debate and amendment to provide safeguards it is unlikely to become law. Fears of the later widening of the law (as happened to David Steel’s 1967 Abortion Act, and many claim has already happened with assisted dying laws in other countries); the risk of pressure being put on people “not to be a burden”; cases where what appears to be the certainty of imminent death turns out not to be; and the question of whether freely chosen termination might void life insurance (as suicide does) will all need to be addressed.
For many the priority should be to deal with the need for universal (and mainly government-funded) palliative care, though in the present state of popular resistance to raising adequate taxation (which has been seen for many years as almost State “robbery” from private incomes) this will not be easy. But even if all these concerns are answered there may remain some cases where a positive easing of dying seems right- and where the risk of prosecution should therefore be removed.
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We read Revelation chapter 12, John’s image of the woman giving birth to a new “ruler” (verse 5), and war breaking out in heaven (verses 7 to 9). There was considerable debate in the Church about the place of Revelation before it was finally included in the New Testament “Canon” by the fourth century Councils. The conviction (probably mistaken) that the author was John the Apostle was a persuasive argument for its inclusion, despite its use of Jewish apocalyptic imagery, which is distinctive, though not unique, in the New Testament (compare especially Mark chapter 13, Matthew 24 and Luke 21).
This was perhaps useful in conveying a message to the churches that Imperial authorities would not understand. And this ancient language, where events “on earth” are mirrored and governed by events “in the heavens” can be equally obscure to us. But its image that “the dragon and his angels” have been “thrown down” and no longer have a place “in heaven” (verses 8 and 9) says that Rome’s injustice and evil has already been broken by what Christ has done. Its deceit and propaganda (“the deceiver of the whole world”- verse 9) has been unmasked and is no longer to be feared, or to be a “temptation” for anyone. To puny congregations confronted with the might of Rome, this was precisely what they needed to hear.
Such convictions gave some German Protestants in 1933 courage to resist Nazi ideology with their “Barmen Declaration” (see the links below)- though Bonhoeffer and others later criticised them severely for doing little to put these convictions into practical effect (particularly in the defence of Jews).
And for today- what might it mean for people trying to resist aggressive nationalism (including the way many are now treating Donald Trump as effectively their “Leader”); for Russians who disagree with Putin and Patriarch Kirill; for women attempting to assert their rights in Iran or in Afghanistan; for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank confronting Israel (see the “Tent of Nations” link); for communities whose economy is being undermined and destroyed by international finance? And for any who try to deal creatively with violence in today’s world (see the link to the Reith Lectures).
On the Barmen Declaration: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barmen_Declaration; https://sacred-texts.com/chr/barmen.htm
Tent of Nations: https://tentofnations.com/
Reith Lectures “Four Questions about Violence”, Dr Gwen Adshead: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0025ds1/episodes/player