Senior Anglican priest slams opposition to assisted dying as ‘pure fatalism and superstition’
by James Macintyre, Christian Today:
A senior Anglican priest has spoken out in favour of assisted dying, dismissing as ‘pure fatalism and superstition’ the notion that ‘the time of someone’s death is purely God’s business’.
Canon Rosie Harper, the chaplain to the Bishop of Buckingham and a member of the Church’s General Synod, has written a controversial post on the ViaMedia blog urging acceptance of the right to die.
In it, she writes: ‘Don’t tell me that the time of someone’s death is purely God’s business. That at the moment when all a human soul wants is for it to end, God stands at the end of the bed and says: “No my child, it is my will that you suffer just a few more days.” That is pure fatalism and superstition.’
She adds: ‘When our lives are nearing the end there are now many societies where that degree of both choice and responsibility remains. That is not the case in the UK.
‘Just when you might think we need our freedom the most the medical profession (by law) take it away from us. Just when you might think that God would most honour the freedom he has given us the Christian community take it away from us.’
Archbishop Cranmer comments here
See also: Why we should not legalise assisted suicide, by Chris Sugden, Christian Today
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