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CV NEWS FEED // An analyst from the United Kingdom reported that the Catholic Church is the only major church publicly opposing the legalization of euthanasia, as most other Christian denominations remain silent on a bill recently introduced to Parliament.
In an article for the Catholic Herald, Thomas Casemore stated that most Christian denominations in the UK were silent about the October 16 assisted suicide bill introduced to Parliament. If passed, the legislation will use taxpayer money to support euthanasia procedures, forcing citizens to financially support “assisted dying.”
Cardinal Vincent Nichols, who is responsible for leading England and Wales, wrote a pastoral letter condemning the bill, warning that a proposed rare procedure, once legalized, could become frequent.
“No doubt the bill put before Parliament will be carefully framed, providing clear and very limited circumstances in which it would become lawful to assist…in the ending of a person’s life,” the Cardinal wrote.
“But please remember, the evidence from every single country in which such a law has been passed is clear,” he continued, “that the circumstances in which the taking of a life is permitted are widened and widened, making assisted suicide and medical killing, or euthanasia, more and more available and accepted.”
Other churches have largely been publicly silent, according to Casemore.
“The Church of England website has a series of posts about peace in Gaza and Black History Month, but… comments about the proposed euthanasia law are noticeably lacking,” Casemore wrote. He said that Methodists in the UK also left the subject untouched.
“Pentecostal denominations such as Assemblies of God and Elim Pentecostal Church have nothing on their websites or social media feeds. The Salvation Army, United Reformed Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church in the UK, the Greek Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain – all have yet to plainly speak out on the matter,” he added.
At the time of the article, Casemore had not found a statement denouncing the bill from the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the leader of the Church of England. However, Archbishop Welby did condemn the bill in an interview with BBC, calling it dangerous.
Casemore attributed the general lack of interest from Christians in euthanasia to an “obsession” with social justice issues.
“As always it seems these days, on issues of life and death, Catholics are — and need to be evermore so, given the silence of others — at the forefront of the opposition to our country’s culture of death,” Casemore wrote. “Maybe Christians are waiting to speak, but, if so, I fear it will be too little too late.”
