A new law has been proposed in the Scottish Parliament which would allow terminally ill people to request doctors assist them in committing suicide. This is the latest push in a growing campaign across the UK and more widely in the Western world to legislate for assisted dying and euthanasia. In this episode we look through the bill to discuss its myriad flaws and how it would very likely send Scotland careering down the infamous slippery slope. But we also unpick what the underlying philosophical and ideological causes driving assisted dying forward. Is euthanasia the next great social leap forward in the inexorable onward march of progress? Is it a solution to our demographic timebomb and social care crisis? Or is the consequence of living in a post-God society, gripped by moral paralysis? In the light of all this, should Christians grimly fight on to prevent assisted dying, or do we begin planning for how we can live well (and do good healthcare) in a post-legalisation world?
In each episode of Matters of Life and Death, brought to you by Premier Unbelievable?, John Wyatt and his son Tim discuss issues in healthcare, ethics, technology, science, faith and more. John is a doctor, professor of ethics, and writer and speaker on many of these topics, while Tim is a religion and social affairs journalist. We talk about how Christians can better engage with a particular question of life, death or something else in between.
A new law has been proposed in the Scottish Parliament which would allow terminally ill people to request doctors assist them in committing suicide. This is the latest push in a growing campaign across the UK and more widely in the Western world to legislate for assisted dying and euthanasia. In this episode we look through the bill to discuss its myriad flaws and how it would very likely send Scotland careering down the infamous slippery slope. But we also unpick what the underlying philosophical and ideological causes driving assisted dying forward. Is euthanasia the next great social leap forward in the inexorable onward march of progress? Is it a solution to our demographic timebomb and social care crisis? Or is the consequence of living in a post-God society, gripped by moral paralysis? In the light of all this, should Christians grimly fight on to prevent assisted dying, or do we begin planning for how we can live well (and do good healthcare) in a post-legalisation world?
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