clergy supporting compassionate assisted dying choice – Christians Supporting Choice for Voluntary Assisted Dying

Dr Arnold transitions from opposition to acceptance of VAD

Ian Wood — Sat, 20 Sep 2025 03:27:03 +0000

Listen to this wonderful episode of Voices from Voluntary Assisted Dying Episode 16 to hear Dr Arnold speaking with Dr Laureen Lawlor-Smith on this issue by clicking on the link https://omny.fm/shows/voices-from-voluntary-assisted-dying/dr-arnolds-opposition-to-acceptance-of-vad-a-personal-journey

Dr Lynn Arnold once stood firmly against voluntary assisted dying (VAD). Initially concerned about the potential for abuse, his perspective changed after witnessing the prolonged suffering of his cousin and, later, supporting his mother through her own VAD journey. Her decision, carried out with dignity and care, revealed to him the system’s safeguards and the emotional depth of choosing death on one’s own terms.

The Honourable Reverend Dr Lynne Arnold is a former state parliamentarian and premier of South Australia. He has held leadership roles with World Vision and Anglicare SA. Today he serves as an assistant priest at St Peter’s Anglican Cathedral, a theology lecturer at St Barnabas Theological College, and a patron or ambassador for numerous organisations including the Don Dunstan Foundation, Reconciliation SA, and the United Nations Association of Australia.

He speaks candidly about the internal conflict, the healing power of compassionate medical care, and the importance of support for both the person choosing VAD and their loved ones. He also discusses how his theological views evolved, emphasising the Anglican Church’s openness to individual conscience on the matter.

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Ian Wood

“There is nothing holy about agony” – UK religious people and leaders support assisted dying too!

Ian Wood — Fri, 10 Sep 2021 07:03:02 +0000

There is nothing holy about agony: religious people and leaders support assisted dying too

My thanks to the BMJ for publishing the following article. Ian Wood, Christians Supporting Choice for Voluntary Assisted Dying Group, Australia.

BMJ 2021; 374 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n2094 (Published 09 September 2021) Cite this as: BMJ 2021;374:n2094

Jonathan Romain, rabbi and vice chair,

George Carey, former Archbishop of Canterbury

A new alliance of faith leaders has formed to ensure the voice of religious proponents of legalised assisted dying is heard. The former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey and rabbi Jonathan Romain argue that nothing in the scripture directly prohibits assisting a death to end suffering.

We are leaders of a new religious alliance in support of doctor assisted dying (along with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Reverend Canon Rosie Harper). We have launched this initiative because we are concerned about the impression being conveyed that all faith groups are implacably opposed to changes in the law to help people longing to die on their own terms, without discomfort, indignity, or extreme pain. This is not the case. A massive change is going on in religious attitudes to assisted dying (by which a person is given a prescription for life ending drugs, which they themselves then order and take). Not least the fact that most church goers are in favour of assisted dying; a 2019 poll, for example, found that 84% of the British public, 82% of Christians, and about 80% of religious people overall supported assisted dying for terminally ill, mentally competent adults.1

Far from being modern, the problem of having to endure a painful end to your life has long been recognised in religious circles. The Book of Ecclesiasticus, for example, which is accepted in the Roman Catholic canon and is non-canonical but esteemed for Jewish and Protestant people, even expresses the view that “Death is better than a miserable life, and eternal rest than chronic sickness” (30:17).

More than physical suffering

A key motivation for people who want to die is the desire to avoid pain. It is not just physical suffering that appals them, but a range of other situations: the humiliation (in their eyes) of failing powers; the limitation of their ability to enjoy life; their dependency on other people; the lack of control over their bodily functions; the sense that they have nothing to look forward to, except ever worsening decline; and the unwelcome image of being sedated into a state of narcotic stupor in their final days, or with their bodies sprouting a forest of tubes.

Of course, many people regard such a death as a regrettable part of the natural cycle of life, to be mitigated through medical care if possible and to be endured if not. That is entirely their prerogative and must be respected. But should people who want to avoid pain and indignity in death have the right to do so? And should other people have the right to prevent them making that choice about their own life?

Who chooses when?

A biblical passage that—deliberately or accidentally—may be relevant to the challenge today is the famous line in the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament: “There is a time to be born and a time to die” (Ecclesiastes 3.2). Notably, it does not say who chooses that time. In previous eras, theologians and leaders assumed that both were pre-ordained by God and that any human interference was sinful, but now it can be read differently. The time to die could just as well be our decision.

Some mainstream faith leaders might claim that this is contradicted by the verse from Job: “God gives and God takes” (1:21), and we cannot usurp that prerogative. Yet the God barrier has long been pushed aside both at the beginning and end of life, with humans acting in lieu of God, whether by doctors’ efforts to create life using test tubes or to postpone death through heart transplants.

If the religious ideal is to imitate God’s ways, then it is our duty to use our God given abilities as much as possible. We could argue, therefore, that assisted dying is part of the constant act of playing God in the sense that God wants us to help people in distress: to heal where possible, to comfort when needed, and to help let go of life when desired—this is what being religious means.

Sanctity of life

Belief in the sanctity of life—in other words, how precious it is—does not mean believing in the sanctity of suffering or disregarding steps to avoid it. There is nothing holy about agony. If terminally ill people do not want to live out their last few months in pain, for what purpose should they be forced to do so, and in whose interest is that life being prolonged?

One concern, though, is that the right to opt for assisted dying might have a deleterious effect on others, especially people in a similar position who do not want to end their life. Might they feel pressured to do so?

The legislation to permit assisted dying currently proposed in parliament by Molly Meacher, who chairs the Dignity in Dying campaign, replicates the 2015 Marris-Falconer Bill and is based on the law in the US state of Oregon, where assisted dying has been legal since 1997. It includes several safeguards that should allay any fears.2 It stipulates that its provisions would apply only to an adult who is terminally ill (defined as with six months or less to live), mentally competent, fully informed of all options, and making a settled request of their own free will in writing. Two independent doctors would have to approve a request, and a High Court judge would have to approve it.

As a result of the experience in Oregon, we are in the fortunate position of knowing in advance what the likely effects of permitting assisted dying will be. The Oregon Death with Dignity Act has remained tightly controlled and has provided choice and reassurance to dying Oregonians. Of the 370 people who received a prescription for assistance to die in 2020, only two thirds (245) took the drugs, comprising a total of 0.6% of all deaths in the state.3

This figure has increased steadily over 20 years and is not shooting up. This indicates that many people want to have the emotional safety net of knowing they can resort to getting help to die if their situation makes life intolerable, but never find they reach that stage. Those who do take the option tend to be people who are used to controlling the course of their life and want to determine the nature of their end too. This may not be everyone’s choice, but why should they be denied it because others do not want it?

Two challenges for Britain

Modern Britain faces two challenges in relation to assisted dying: the one that medical and legal professions face and the one that churches, synagogues, and other establishments of faith must confront.

The challenge facing medicine and law is the area of consent—a crucial factor for us all. Individual autonomy is a major principle in treating other people with serious medical conditions. Whose Life is it Anyway? was a major film starring Richard Dreyfuss about a successful sculptor who has a car crash that leaves him a paraplegic. In the four decades since the film’s release, the right to die has been explored over and over again. Yet many people have been forced to choose the option of going to another country to end their lives according to their own wishes.

Informed consent entails considering the interests of the dying person as well as those of society. There are still implications from the 2014 Supreme Court judgment on the case of Tony Nicklinson, who was paralysed from the neck down after a stroke and wanted help to end his life but was denied permission because he was not terminally ill.4 David Neuberger, former president of the Supreme Court, pointed out the legal asymmetry between the legality of permission to switch off a life support machine and the illegality of allowing certain drugs to be taken by a dying person.

Of course, on the same moral grounds that dying people should be allowed to choose their end, it would be outrageous if doctors were given no choice about taking part. The current bill states that professionals with conscientious objection for religious or other reasons would have no obligation to be involved.

People of faith

And what of those of us whose lives are shaped by our beliefs? The challenges posed by people dying in pain have led to substantial developments in the religious world. Although many Christian and Jewish clergy—especially those in leadership—hold to the traditional opposition to assisted dying, a growing number of ministers now favour it.

Religious opposition to assisted dying is not uniform. Certain faiths are undoubtedly opposed, such as Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism (as far as the leadership is concerned, with all 26 Lords Spiritual following Canterbury’s line), Jewish Orthodoxy, and Muslim sects. But Liberal Judaism and Unitarians back the current bill, as do the chief executives of the think tank Ekklesia and the liberal Christian society, the Modern Church.

But people ask why there has been such strong opposition to assisted dying by some religious groups. Strangely, it is not largely on theological grounds, because there is nothing in our bibles or prayer books that directly mentions this matter. The principal reason is the threat to vulnerable people—an unintended slippery slope if unscrupulous people try to bend the law. That has not been the case in Oregon and should not be so in the UK as we take steps to legalise assisted dying.

Religious support for reform

The Religious Alliance for Dignity in Dying is composed primarily of Anglicans, but there is a wide range of other denominations—Methodist, Baptist, Congregationalist, Unitarian—along with Reform and Liberal rabbis. We offer an alternative view and show that there can be religious reasons for it.

We may have different beliefs but are one in affirming that dogma is there to serve, not to dictate. There is nothing in our religious texts that opposes tender care at the point of death, to help those people who need it to take medication to end their lives. And, sadly, religious opposition to medical science has hindered a closer relationship between faith and science for centuries. In areas such as obstetric anaesthesia, birth control, stem cell research, and more recently mitochondrial replacement therapy, the response has been fearful and negative. We can surely do better than that.

Our alliance seeks to do more; we want to provide guidelines for the pastoral care of individuals and their families before and after death and to develop rituals for people undergoing the process of assisted dying.

Public and parliament

Attitudes are changing among the laity too. Poll after poll has shown that most of the population support assisted dying. What about parliament? The House of Lords has supported assisted dying in recent years by comfortable margins. But the bill introduced into the House of Commons in 2015 by Rob Marris failed to get support, largely because a new House was not ready to legislate on such a controversial social matter. There is a new mood in the House, however, and members of parliament have been moved by the cases of people like Debbie Purdy and Noel Conway and seem ready now to change sides in view of the overwhelming public support.

Clergy who oppose assisted dying have a right to their opinions, but they do not speak for all believers. There is not a monolithic religious view but a diversity of views, with a considerable number sympathetic to it.1 In a recent poll, over half of religious people said that religious leaders should not have campaigned against the assisted dying bill that was debated in parliament in 2015; only a fifth (22%) said that they should have.5

This is undoubtedly difficult territory, but it is religiously appropriate to try to navigate it. The right to live your life to the very end does not imply the religious obligation to do so, especially if that end is a travesty of that person’s life and everything that has gone before. If there is a right to die well—or at least to die as well as possible—it means having the option of assisted dying, regardless of whether it is taken up. That, surely, is a truly compassionate and very religious response.

Biographies

Rabbi, writer, and broadcaster, Jonathan Romain is minister of Maidenhead Synagogue. He is visiting chaplain to several hospitals and hospices in Berkshire and Buckinghamshire. As vice chair of Dignity in Dying, he founded the Religious Alliance for clergy and laity of all faiths who wish to express their support for assisted dying to be legalised in the UK.

George Carey was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1991 to 2002. In retirement, he continues to be involved in areas of development and inter-faith matters. His views on assisted dying changed through contact with those going through end-of-life crises.

Footnotes

Competing interests: We have read and understood BMJ policy on declaration of interests and have no relevant interests to declare.
Provenance and peer review: Commissioned; not externally peer reviewed.

References

Yonder Consulting. Largest ever poll on assisted dying conducted by Populus (now Yonder) finds increase in support to 84% of the public. https://yonderconsulting.com/largest-ever-poll-on-assisted-dying-conducted-by-populus-finds-increase-in-support-to-84-of-the-public/

Assisted Dying Bill [HL] Private Members’ Bill (Starting in the House of Lords). 26 May 2021. https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/2875

Oregon Health Authority. Oregon Death with Dignity Act. 2020 data summary. https://www.oregon.gov/oha/PH/PROVIDERPARTNERRESOURCES/EVALUATIONRESEARCH/DEATHWITHDIGNITYACT/Documents/year23.pdf

R (Nicklinson) v Ministry of Justice. 25 Jun 2014. https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc-2013-0235.html

Gregory A. Dying with dignity: faith leaders are out of touch on assisted dying, say followers. Sunday Times 2021 https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/dying-with-dignity-faith-leaders-are-out-of-touch-on-assisted-dying-say-followers-pphx3wg87

https://www.bmj.com/content/374/bmj.n2094

“As a Christian theologian, I can state unequivocally that Maine’s Death with Dignity law is a blessing.” — Reverend Marvin Ellison, PhD

Ian Wood — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 02:19:28 +0000

Celebrating the Maine Death with Dignity Act that went into effect 19.9.2019

“It’s a blessing”

The Reverend Marvin Ellison, PhD, a Presbyterian minister and former Willard S. Bass professor of Christian ethics at the Bangor Theological Seminary in Portland, Maine, said his Christian beliefs inform his support for Maine’s law.

“As a Christian theologian, I can state unequivocally that Maine’s Death with Dignity law is a blessing.”

— Reverend Marvin Ellison, PhD

Photo supplied by Rev Ellison.

“It’s a blessing to those at the end of life who are ready to die, but for a variety of reasons are not able to die,” Marvin shared with us. “It’s a blessing to their family and friends, who pray that their loved one will not be forced, against their will, to experience a meaningless and protracted death but rather will have the means, when and if they so wish, to exit more gracefully.“

“It takes spiritual maturity to discern when death is no longer the enemy to resist, but rather has become the friend to welcome,” he added. “I thank God for the gift of our moral freedom to make these very tender, very principled decisions for ourselves. We honor God and each other when we adopt a “hands on” rather than “hands off” response to dying, especially when we act with care, compassion, and respect for one another at our ending no less than at our beginning.”

Please read the full article: https://www.deathwithdignity.org/news/2020/09/the-spirit-of-dirigo/?fbclid=IwAR3GhNHt9h_vtR74W-4-iJVaQh3ZB-VTI9-x6hadKWca4f4bGIssJLv6MY4

“I pray that our Members of Parliament will enact a law to permit us to access this blessing in every state and territory of Australia,” says Ian Wood, Spokesperson and Co-founder of Christians Supporting Choice for Voluntary Assisted Dying. If you ‘Like’, ‘Love’ or ‘Care’ for this post, and have not already joined us, please add your name today – https://christiansforvad.org.au/add-your-name/

Rev Craig Kilgour, New Zealand. Sermon – My nephew had an assisted death in Canada: it was compassionate, it was humane, it was right and good.

Ian Wood — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 06:44:56 +0000

I am re-posting this sermon in support of the End of Life Choice Bill which would enable terminally ill New Zealanders to have the choice of assisted deaths under specified circumstances. To become law, this Bill requires a YES vote in a Public Referendum question to be included at the General Election to be held September 2020.

I restate – the last two paragraphs of the sermon sum up the compassionate Christian approach to Assisted Ding Choice. Ian Wood

From our friends across the Tasman I have this Sermon in strong support of Assisted Dying from Rev Craig Kilgour, when Interim Moderator at St Columba’s Presbyterian Church, Havelock North, New Zealand..

It is quite unique in that a nephew of Craig had an assisted death in Canada. The last two paragraphs of the sermon sum up the compassionate Christian approach to Assisted Dying Choice: “Let me finish this with what my family members said and repeated often using these words about my nephew’s death: It was compassionate, it was humane, it was right and good. And the family are very proud and humbled with the courage he showed in his battle with cancer. And to me no one has the right to be critical and judgemental of the choice he made.

So for me and my family this is not a philosophical debate, it is not a theological debate, it is not a theoretical debate, it is a reality and it was right and my nephew was fortunate he lived in Canada.”

The sermon is posted here with the kind permission of Rev Craig. In response to my question on what was the reaction of his congregation to the sermon Craig replied: the reaction from the congregation was very positive with many copies requested. Copies went wider into the community. I’ve been asked to speak to a retired group of Doctors at Hastings hospital.

Ian Wood

Rev Craig Kilgour

Sunday 14 October 2018

Assisted dying

The topic I’ve chosen for the sermon might seem strange for a morning when we celebrate the birth and baptism of Angus, but then I thought when life ends, we celebrate the life lived whatever the length.

I mentioned my dilemma to Granddad David and he said it evens things out!

I want to share with you this morning about what our family has experienced just recently.

I’m going to talk to you about assisted dying, euthanasia, a topic which is difficult to deal with, and it provokes very strong feelings.

The End of life choice Bill is currently with Parliament’s Justice Select Committee. There have been 35 000 submissions – think about terminal illness, a few months to live, sound mind, to allow physician-assisted death.

I with some of the congregation, attended a discussion on the Bill, that our MP Lawrence Yule had called with a panel of experts at our Community Centre a while ago.

The issue has been debated by the General Assembly of our church and they were unanimously opposed against supporting the Bill before Parliament.

After I took the service on 30 September, I went across to Takaka for the memorial service for my nephew who had died in Canada. He was 47 years old. The memorial service was held on Wednesday 3 October in the Pohara Boat Club – a place where he loved racing his yachting.

I did the eulogy and the internment of ashes at the local cemetery.

It was hard taking part in the service but good to spend a week with the family. I got back home last Monday.

So let me give you a background that led up to his death in Canada on 18 September.

My nephew was born in Timaru and when quite young, the family moved to Takaka. He went to Golden Bay High School. He loved sport of all kind – rugby league was his first love and he continued to follow the warriors in Canada. He was into motorsport, dirt bike racing stock cars, yachting. Although he suffered from seasickness, he was a very competent sailor. He was adventurous – rock climbing, skydiving, bungee jumping.

When he left school, he became a share milker, he worked in Western Australia on outback stations as a jackaroo, he tried deep sea fishing in a Sealords boat. He met his wife at a Takaka A & P Show. She was a local vet. In 2006 they left for overseas for London, Zimbabwe and Canada. They got married on Christmas Eve in a chapel at Las Vegas in 2007. Seven years ago they had twin girls and five years ago another daughter.

Five years ago my nephew was diagnosed with an aggressive melanoma on his face. He had surgery which twisted his face, radiations that destroyed hearing in one ear and affected his swallowing and numerous chemotherapy sessions that left him sick. He was given experimental drug treatments. The best treatment he could have in Canada. He was able to have medical cannabis to help him sleep and control the pain.

Early in September my brother and sister in law along with their son and daughter went to Canada to be with the family.

My nephew and his wife gathered the family together to tell them that he would stop any further treatment and that they had decided with the doctors that his life would end on 18 September.

Canada’s Supreme Court has ruled that the Right to Die with Dignity was a basic human right. You might remember Lecretia Seales, the 42 year old lawyer dying of a brain tumour, went to the High Court in Wellington. The Court ruled that Parliament needed to change the law.

I was in contact with my brother as to how they were coping. He said it was difficult but because of their son’s condition, the pain and discomfort he was facing and the appalling future he faced, they accepted the decision made.

The day before he died my nephew cleared out his shed and burnt rubbish. The next day in the presence of his wife and 3 young daughters, he died.

While in Takaka, I talked extensively with the family. They all felt that what had taken place was right and that he was at peace.

The challenge I think we all faced, personally I had for many years been in favour of assisted dying. Intellectually I believe it needs to come in our country – even if it is for a relatively small number of people – but when it actually comes close and to your family, emotionally it is much tougher to deal with.

You occasionally hear opponents to the Bill use the slippery slope argument, but this argument has been used for every social advance we have made in society: giving emancipation to people of colour, votes for women – we celebrate 125 years in New Zealand – decriminalizing homosexuality, same sex marriage. We are making society more permissive but more humane.

While I lived in America for nearly six years, I read extensively about the State of Oregon. The law on which our one is modeled on, has been in operation for nearly 20 year. Oregon has a population of 4.1 million. They found that over a ten year period on average 30 each year used the legislation to end their lives – again under strict guidelines. A number of people were able to use the means to end their lives but didn’t use it. They had peace of mind. Whenever it is on a ballot, conservative groups have tried to deny this right – each time it has been overwhelmingly defeated. It was widespread public support.

Just a few reflections:

I recently read Nikki Gemmell’s book ‘After’. She is a top Australian novelist and writes a regular column in The Australian. I jotted down in my note book a few quotes from the book:

– In the fraught world of euthanasia – if the perpetrator’s family cannot by law be involved in the wishes of the person wanting to die, then you are condemning that person to a horrendously bleak and lonely death.

We are not talking about taking life, we are talking about releasing it.
Embracing individual choice is the mark of a mature nation.
As we become more empowered as individuals, we need laws out of compassion for people wanting to die.
I’m in favour of the freedom to choose.

Dr Philip Nitschke – Exit ‘those who seek to exert control over the dying process are pragmatic and directed – and are not cowards, but courageous.’

Nikki Gemmell’s mother committed suicide without telling anyone. Her mother had suffered chronic pain from a couple of botched operations. The book ‘After’ came out of her and the family coping with her mother’s death. She wrote about her experience in her column and had been flooded with responses.

While on holiday in Rarotonga with friends, one evening we were discussing euthanasia. One of our friends, a local GP, made a couple of comments to me. First he said in the 36 years I was in ministry I had more to do with death and dying than he did as a doctor!

And towards the end of the discussion he said would I be able to help someone to end their life with pills?

I went to bed with that on my mind. Next morning at breakfast I said to him Yes I could if I loved someone, they were suffering and I knew their wishes. Someone in the group said to me; Where is God in this? I said I’m not sure God has anything to do with it, but on later reflection, if God is love – and love is shown, yes God is present.

Ian Harris: “What does love, when focussed unwaveringly on the wellbeing of another require for this person in these circumstances at this time?”

The other reflection I have is that over all my time in ministry I visited many parishioners in Senior Citizen homes/Rest homes. I had known many of their life stories. Most had lived full, rich lives, adventurous lives, they were ready and wanting to die. Numerous ones would say; Craig, I hope I could go to sleep and not wake up. I would often reply they needed to be patient and accept the love given by family and friends – if they had anyone. It wasn’t that they felt a burden on others but rather life itself was a burden. Doing basic things took everything out of them.

In a recent Listener article on Jenny Gibbs, one of New Zealand’s leading philanthropists, had made a submission to the select committee considering the issue of voluntary euthanasia.

I quote: “I wouldn’t dream of stopping you from having your views and doing what you think is right and proper. I know some people think suffering is ennobling and I wouldn’t dream of stopping someone who believed that. By the same token I can’t see why you should stop me from living or dying by my beliefs. It is as simple as that – choice.”

As someone said there will be no more deaths, but less suffering.

Let me finish this with what my family members said and repeated often using these words about my nephew’s death: It was compassionate, it was humane, it was right and good. And the family are very proud and humbled with the courage he showed in his battle with cancer. And to me no one has the right to be critical and judgemental of the choice he made.

Photo supplied by Rev Craig Kilgour

Rev Craig Kilgour, New Zealand. Sermon – My nephew had an assisted death in Canada: it was compassionate, it was humane, it was right and good.

Ian Wood — Sun, 30 Dec 2018 00:53:06 +0000

It is quite unique in that a nephew of Craig had an assisted death in Canada. The last two paragraphs of the sermon sum up the compassionate Christian approach to Assisted Dying Choice: Let me finish this with what my family members said and repeated often using these words about my nephew’s death: It was compassionate, it was humane, it was right and good. And the family are very proud and humbled with the courage he showed in his battle with cancer. And to me no one has the right to be critical and judgemental of the choice he made.