Ottawa, Canada - As Canada moves toward legalizing assisted suicide, Catholic bishops, a large Protestant coalition and Jewish and Muslim leaders have joined together to reaffirm the need to help the suffering without killing them.
“On the basis of our respective traditions and beliefs, we insist that any action intended to end human life is morally and ethically wrong. Together, we are determined to work to alleviate human suffering in every form but never by intentionally eliminating those who suffer,” the joint statement said.
The Declaration on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide is a joint statement from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, a coalition of more than 40 affiliated denominations. The statement, released Oct. 29, also has support from more than 30 other Christian denominations as well as 20 Jewish and Muslim leaders.
“Humanity’s moral strength is based on solidarity, communion and communication – particularly with those who are suffering,” the statement continued. “It is personal attention and palliative care and not assisted suicide or euthanasia that best uphold the worth of the human person.
“It is when we are willing to care for one another under the most dire of circumstances and at the cost of great inconvenience that human dignity and society’s fundamental goodness are best expressed and preserved.”
The declaration responded to the Supreme Court of Canada’s unanimous February decision which ruled that doctors may help patients who have severe and incurable suffering to kill themselves. The national parliament has a year to develop a legal response to the decision.
Canadian officials in July announced the creation of a three-member panel to respond to the decision, while advocates of assisted suicide have objected that two of the members have opposed legalization of the practice.
Canadian law had previously punished the counseling, aiding or abetting in a suicide with up to 14 years in prison.
In reaction to the court’s decision, the religious leaders’ joint declaration affirmed “the sanctity of all human life” and reaffirmed a commitment to caring for those who are suffering and in pain. “Euthanasia and assisted suicide treat the lives of disadvantaged, ill, disabled, or dying persons as less valuable than the lives of others. Such a message does not respect the equal dignity of our vulnerable brothers and sisters,” the religious leaders said.
The religious leaders said the sanctity of human life is a “foundational principle of human society” that is the basis for protecting the vulnerable and for recognizing the equal dignity of individuals regardless of their abilities.
In wake of the court’s decision, the joint declaration said, Canadians should reflect on their personal and societal responses to “those who need our compassion and care.”
The statement also criticized the tendency to define human dignity in an emotional, subjective way.
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