Human beings are free agents, but their freedom does not extend to the ending of their own lives. The Roman Catholic church does not accept that human beings have a right to die. they should be open to their hopes and fears.religious people, both lay and professional, should help the terminally ill to prepare for death.the community should recognise that when people suffer death on earth they entrust their future to the risen Christ.the community should face death and dying with honesty and support.the community should provide the best possible palliative care.the community should care for people who are dying, and for those who are close to them.The Christian faith leads those who follow it to some clear-cut views about the way terminally ill patients should be treated: Perhaps we should accept their rational decision to refuse excessively burdensome treatment even if it may provide several weeks more of life.We should accept their rational decisions to refuse burdensome and futile treatment.If we respect a person we should respect their decisions about the end of their life.Christianity requires us to respect every human being.Some features of Christianity suggest that there are some obligations that go against the general view that euthanasia is a bad thing: people who have mental or physical handicaps have the same value as any other human being. patients who are old or sick, and who are near the end of earthly life have the same value as any other human being.so it would be wrong to treat their lives as worthless and to conclude that they 'would be better off dead'.patients in a persistent vegetative state, although seriously damaged, remain living human beings, and so their intrinsic value remains the same as anyone else's.Valuing human beings as equal just because they are human beings has clear implications for thinking about euthanasia: They don't think that human dignity and value are measured by mobility, intelligence, or any achievements in life. They think it is wrong to interfere with the process of dying, as this would interrupt the process of the spirit moving towards GodĬhristians believe that the intrinsic dignity and value of human lives means that the value of each human life is identical.Many churches believe that the period just before death is a profoundly spiritual time.The process of dying is spiritually important, and should not be disrupted nor should anyone ask for euthanasia for themselves because no-one has the right to value anyone, even themselves, as worthless.therefore arguements based on the quality of life are completely irrelevant.such a judgement is incompatible with recognising the worth and dignity of the person to be killed.to propose euthanasia for an individual is to judge that the current life of that individual is not worthwhile.this is a good thing, and life should be preserved so that people can go on doing this.as people develop these abilities they live a life that is as close as possible to God's life of love.saying that God created humankind in his own image doesn't mean that people actually look like God, but that people have a unique capacity for rational existence that enables them to see what is good and to want what is good.
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