Andy Drozdziak
Christian social justice charity CARE has hit back at Times columnist Matthew Parris for his controversial comments that assisted suicide legalisation would be a ‘healthy development’.
Writing in The Times, former MP Mr Parris referred to people as ‘units’ and argued that society must ‘adapt its norms’ as it cannot afford to keep elderly people who are infirm and extremely ill.
He wrote: “It may sound brutal, but I don’t apologise for the reductivist tone in which this column treats human beings as units — in deficit or surplus to the collective. For a society as much as for an individual, self-preservation must shine a harsh beam on to the balance between input and output. To protect its future, a healthy society must adapt its norms, its cultural taboos and its moral codes. This does not usually happen by decree but by a largely unconscious general creep. People begin changing their minds, often unaware of why.”
CARE hit back by saying that Parris had gone ‘horribly wrong’ in his ‘units’ reference, referring to Biblical teachings which contradict Darwinist beliefs.
“If all we are is a bag of chemicals, when the ‘machine’ that is our body goes wrong, what’s the harm in ‘switching it off’?” CARE said.
“In the Christian worldview, we are not just machines. We are ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ (Psalm 139:13-14). We are both frail (Psalm 8:4), but also magnificent creations by a good God, made in His image (Psalm 8:5). We are both body and soul, made by God, for God.”
The issue of assisted suicide has come to the fore after former journalist and television presenter Dame Esther Rantzen, who has terminal cancer, called for a vote on assisted dying. Backed by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, the Daily Express and the campaign group Dignity in Dying, a petition demanding a parliamentary vote on the subject has amassed 177,000 signatures.
Assisted suicide is currently banned in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. If convicted, people can face up to 14 years in jail. Although it is not a criminal offence in Scotland, helping someone to die can leave a person open to a murder charge or other prosecution. In Scotland, MSP Liam McArthur’s Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill is expected to be introduced to the Scottish Parliament soon. Sir Keir Starmer has promised a parliamentary debate on the issue if Labour win this year’s election.
CARE’s comments come after Archbishop of Southwark John Wilson’s recent pastoral letter, in which he underlined the Church’s opposition to assisted suicide.
“We cannot approve of any form of euthanasia and assisted suicide,” Archbishop Wilson said.
“The Catholic Church believes and teaches that every life is valuable, regardless of one’s physical or mental state or ability.”
Matthew Parris added that he ‘would welcome’ pressure for terminally ill people to hasten their own deaths so as “not to be a burden” on others or themselves. CARE pointed to advances in palliative care to support the terminally ill.
CARE said: “Life really is sacred. It is to be protected. And thanks to palliative care, the hospice movement and advances in medical understanding, we are in a far better place today to address an ageing population than we were even 50 years ago.”
Picture: Matthew Parris/X