The only dangerous thing here is lying to people to make them believe in a beardy sky wizard.
Why shouldn’t people have the right to control the end game of their life?
I’m certainly not going to be a burden on my children and/or the heath service once I’m only fit for scrap.
Apprehensiv3Eye on
I understand the need for strict criteria and safeguards, but having watched my grandfather suffer horribly in the last few years of his life, followed by watching my mother spend the last few weeks of her life in absolute hell, I would sooner kill myself while I still had the ability to do so than be admitted to hospital with a progressive disease that will result in me slowly losing all of my dignity and control over my own fate.
Religion shouldn’t even come into the debate.
Eliqui123 on
Keep your religious views out of my politics, Welby.
If he was calling for more stringent checks and balances, fair enough, but he’s not. He’s using the slippery slope fallacy to fear monger and take away people’s right to a pain-free, dignified death.
While of sound mind and body I’m *very* happy to sign something to say that in the event of terminal illness I can choose when to be put to sleep. I’m also okay with the remote possibility that someone coerces me to do it sooner, or that I change my mind and can’t communicate it – to me, even those scenarios would be preferable to dying in agony (and at the time it becomes relevant I’m going to be dying soon anyway).
My body, my choice. *(Edit 1: if you’re determined to focus in on one phrase, at least try not to ignore everything else in the post that gives it context, and then incorrectly extrapolated from it. Thanks)*
*Edit 2: Lots of responses and similar questions. So to save people asking the same things:
– Religious people don’t need their views “accounted for” unless assisted suicide was going to be mandatory. It’s not, so they can simply not opt in. Religious views shouldn’t inform the choices of non-religious people.
– I believe there should be a full assessment in which you must demonstrate a full understanding of the possibility that you could be coerced. This would be backed up by stringent practices too of course. Ultimately, if you don’t agree to being put forward for assisted suicide on this basis, or of you fail to demonstrate an adequate understanding of these risks then you don’t qualify.
IndependentOpinion44 on
Where there’s god, there’s war.
Religion is dangerous.
Random_Reddit_bloke on
Religious “leaders” need to stay the fuck out of this conversation- when somebody’s quality of life is so utterly unbearable, and is only going to worsen, nobody other than them should be able to influence what happens next, and certainly not someone that thinks they have a direct line to an all powerful being. Fucking charlatans.
techbear72 on
Christians from his particular sect should feel free to not use assisted dying, but there’s no reason why this man’s opinion on it should affect the rest of us.
Cute_Ad_9730 on
I believe if any ‘religion’ makes a significant contribution to your thought process, either you’ve got a mental health problem or you are not being honest about your motivation. Trying to impose you ‘beliefs’ onto other people is ludicrous. Self determined suicide should become a perfectly acceptable decision for people who are normally considered mentally capable.
Gaming_Stoned on
I find his religion dangerous but i’m not writing articles about it in the paper.
Illustrious_Use_6008 on
Why are these religious twats so scared about death? It’s literally logic, I don’t want to spend my last years of my life disintegrating due to dementia while I could leave with dignity.
No_Study_2459 on
I’ve been saying this for years. You cannot have a nhs and assisted dying. People are going to be pressured into killing themselves. What if a man has cancer can’t work and will lose everything for his family. Or an old person taking up resources that could help many more people. Or a young person ill with a lot of healthy organs that could save a lot of lives.
This hasn’t gone well in Canada it will go even worse here with the state of the nhs. It may seem like assisted dying is the only way to get decent timely treatment
Nice-Substance-gogo on
Guy who believes in fairy tales shouldn’t get involved in politics.
Nice-Substance-gogo on
He’s just looking out for the power of the church over old ladies and believers. They want a monopoly on what is right and wrong on death while people continue to suffer.
neverdidseenadumberQ on
When an animal is dying an agonising death, we put it out of its misery and all agree 100% that it’s the right thing to do. Only humans have to suffer the medieval-torture-like indignity of a death from something like bowel cancer. Why?
Accomplished-Try-658 on
Anyone who doesn’t want to live, shouldn’t have to. Barbaric to allow people to live in misery.
Definable shouldn’t be seeking opinions from some priest.
alexblueuk on
Religious people are welcome to follow the views of their religion and die naturally.
The rest of us would like the option to choose.
mumwifealcoholic on
Fuck you, Justin.
And the fictional horse you rode in on. You and your opinions are not relevant to modern life.
My body MY choice.
Mjukplister on
Id rather have 1 person die too soon than have 100 languish in agony . It’s time . I remember bloody debating this at secondary school
Hellohibbs on
A man whose only skill is being well versed in a magic fiction book should not be seen as a credible authority on anything.
Theodin_King on
Not as dangerous as psychologically traumatising children with the concept of hell.
MarcusSuperbuz on
So if you belong to his church don’t do it?
OK the rest of us may do as we chose with our own lives.
Vanster101 on
In 2023 in Washington, Oregon, and Canada the percentage of those who said not wanting to be a burden to friends/family was a major factor in opting for ‘assisted dying’ was 56%, 45%, and 36% respectively.
These percentages have increased since introduction. It is not a slippery slope but a real consequence.
The question is are we happy as a society with that future for us?
Klumber on
You know what is dangerous? Keeping people alive when they are ready to go. Trapping them in a moral web that normalises suffering and in fact hails it as ‘penance for your sins’.
People have a right to self determination.
GondorfTheG on
The “slippery slope” of letting people do what they want. Christians don’t like the sheep making their own decisions. Fuck this guy.
vms-crot on
His religious opinion on medical matters is entirely irrelevant. Even more irrelevant if his opinion includes people that don’t follow his sky daddy religion.
Caerum on
The UK should take a look at what the Netherlands does.
At least my grandparents and mother died with dignity and not in absolute agony. I can’t imagine what would have happened to them if they lived in the UK.
It’s absolutely heartwrenching to think about.
welshinzaghi on
Absolute big NO to religion in politics and human rights
Sad-Personality8493 on
He’s speaking like the Church is still relevant. It’s not 1751 anymore. No one cares.
Mrdiglit on
This guy !
what is more dangerous and sad is letting someone rot in bed unhappy. And in some cases put families in money trouble.
This would also save the tax payer lots of money in many cases along with making space.
Close family sign papers along with one external person a doctor or undertaker.
This brings peace.
Selerox on
Disestablishment please.
We need to secularise the state.
Nicki3000 on
This guy’s whole job revolves around there being a magic man in the sky. Maybe he shouldn’t have a say in this.
TrashbatLondon on
“Slippery slope” arguments are so deeply dishonest. It allows someone to smear any reasonable argument as extreme.
In the real work, gay marriage didn’t lead to people marrying animals, we don’t have 39 week abortions, gay adoption hasn’t acted as “recruitment” and we don’t have any other the other paranoid fantasies the church have dreamed up to scare people away from progressive law making.
tits-are-the-best on
Let’s maybe quickly gloss over what delusional people think next time?
BritDog2001 on
I agree with him. Many people in care homes were persuaded to sign DNR forms during covid.
BritDog2001 on
I thought we were supposed to be a Christian county.
BritDog2001 on
What about the oath doctors take to preserve life at all costs?
BritDog2001 on
The NHS is strained. Let’s kill a good number of the ill. That’ll do.
Mrdiglit on
Religion on earth was started correctly it was all the same to understand the planet and its elements.
Good life weather Bad death weather.
I wish that sun would come out and make me feel good and grow the surroundings.
I wish that water would come down to feed us all.
What have I done wrong for this storm lightning and frost.
‘This becomes prayer
The sun = God.
Today we are left with religions that have been moulded by time and leaders. But at the foundation they are all exactly from the same point.
Unfortunately religions are now a divide.
diddum on
Well if nothing else, this thread has proven that the reports of The Death of The Reddit Atheist were a bit premature.
Electronic_Charity76 on
My father was a paramedic in the NHS for 25 years, he has more than a few stories about him trying to resuscitate an old boy who dropped dead in the living room and some scumbag relative *stepping over the still-cooling body* to grab some trinket off the mantle. Not everyone will pressure their elderly relatives into euthanasia because they care for their wellbeing, and we already live in a world where old folks are tricked and coerced into signing away their life savings by amoral opportunists.
My real worry though is how it will translate into neoliberal politics. I can really see a future where the DWP offer euthanasia to everyone who hasn’t found a job in three months, and then makes a mandatory appointment for you if you haven’t found a job three months after that. It’ll be used as a convenient way to bump off people who are seen as financial burdens on the state. It’s not a “slippery slope fallacy” if there’s already demonstrable precedence for it, the DWP has been turned into anti-human apparatus for political ends before and it can be again.
TheDiscoGestapo2 on
Got to keep those poor souls suffering long enough to farm some more loosh for your masters eh?
boringman1982 on
My dad was left in a permanent vegetative state after a stroke and a bleed on the brain. All he could do was breathe. He couldn’t swallow, couldn’t talk, couldn’t see, couldn’t hear anything, no way of communication. As crass as it sounds he was a breathing corpse. Brain scans showed no brain simulation to bright lights, loud noises, strong smells, even taste. The only thing that showed any brain stimulation was when they punched his shoulder. He was classed as brain dead.
What was the point of keeping him alive for two more years? My mum cared for him 24/7 ag home while me and my brothers and sister all came round every day to help. Our lives were effectively on hold for two and a half years while we visited him at hospital and then cared for him at home. Plus the indignity of a man who built the house he was being cared for in with his bare hands then having to have his wife and children bathe him and change his adult nappy before his organs eventually stopped working. He was only 49 when it happened so he was still young and strong that’s why it took his organs so long to stop working.
Why couldn’t he have been dosed up and allowed to die a dignified death?
Kijamon on
This is a no brainer with the right checks in place, an opt in policy, a pre issue declaration or whatever format it needs to be to express your wishes in advance of having it.
I wish we had it to have saved my mum’s final 24 hours of hell. And she was “lucky” to only have had 24 hours like that and dying at home in her bed.
Holding her hand and praying wouldn’t have helped at all.
42 Comments
The only dangerous thing here is lying to people to make them believe in a beardy sky wizard.
Why shouldn’t people have the right to control the end game of their life?
I’m certainly not going to be a burden on my children and/or the heath service once I’m only fit for scrap.
I understand the need for strict criteria and safeguards, but having watched my grandfather suffer horribly in the last few years of his life, followed by watching my mother spend the last few weeks of her life in absolute hell, I would sooner kill myself while I still had the ability to do so than be admitted to hospital with a progressive disease that will result in me slowly losing all of my dignity and control over my own fate.
Religion shouldn’t even come into the debate.
Keep your religious views out of my politics, Welby.
If he was calling for more stringent checks and balances, fair enough, but he’s not. He’s using the slippery slope fallacy to fear monger and take away people’s right to a pain-free, dignified death.
While of sound mind and body I’m *very* happy to sign something to say that in the event of terminal illness I can choose when to be put to sleep. I’m also okay with the remote possibility that someone coerces me to do it sooner, or that I change my mind and can’t communicate it – to me, even those scenarios would be preferable to dying in agony (and at the time it becomes relevant I’m going to be dying soon anyway).
My body, my choice. *(Edit 1: if you’re determined to focus in on one phrase, at least try not to ignore everything else in the post that gives it context, and then incorrectly extrapolated from it. Thanks)*
*Edit 2: Lots of responses and similar questions. So to save people asking the same things:
– Religious people don’t need their views “accounted for” unless assisted suicide was going to be mandatory. It’s not, so they can simply not opt in. Religious views shouldn’t inform the choices of non-religious people.
– I believe there should be a full assessment in which you must demonstrate a full understanding of the possibility that you could be coerced. This would be backed up by stringent practices too of course. Ultimately, if you don’t agree to being put forward for assisted suicide on this basis, or of you fail to demonstrate an adequate understanding of these risks then you don’t qualify.
Where there’s god, there’s war.
Religion is dangerous.
Religious “leaders” need to stay the fuck out of this conversation- when somebody’s quality of life is so utterly unbearable, and is only going to worsen, nobody other than them should be able to influence what happens next, and certainly not someone that thinks they have a direct line to an all powerful being. Fucking charlatans.
Christians from his particular sect should feel free to not use assisted dying, but there’s no reason why this man’s opinion on it should affect the rest of us.
I believe if any ‘religion’ makes a significant contribution to your thought process, either you’ve got a mental health problem or you are not being honest about your motivation. Trying to impose you ‘beliefs’ onto other people is ludicrous. Self determined suicide should become a perfectly acceptable decision for people who are normally considered mentally capable.
I find his religion dangerous but i’m not writing articles about it in the paper.
Why are these religious twats so scared about death? It’s literally logic, I don’t want to spend my last years of my life disintegrating due to dementia while I could leave with dignity.
I’ve been saying this for years. You cannot have a nhs and assisted dying. People are going to be pressured into killing themselves. What if a man has cancer can’t work and will lose everything for his family. Or an old person taking up resources that could help many more people. Or a young person ill with a lot of healthy organs that could save a lot of lives.
This hasn’t gone well in Canada it will go even worse here with the state of the nhs. It may seem like assisted dying is the only way to get decent timely treatment
Guy who believes in fairy tales shouldn’t get involved in politics.
He’s just looking out for the power of the church over old ladies and believers. They want a monopoly on what is right and wrong on death while people continue to suffer.
When an animal is dying an agonising death, we put it out of its misery and all agree 100% that it’s the right thing to do. Only humans have to suffer the medieval-torture-like indignity of a death from something like bowel cancer. Why?
Anyone who doesn’t want to live, shouldn’t have to. Barbaric to allow people to live in misery.
Definable shouldn’t be seeking opinions from some priest.
Religious people are welcome to follow the views of their religion and die naturally.
The rest of us would like the option to choose.
Fuck you, Justin.
And the fictional horse you rode in on. You and your opinions are not relevant to modern life.
My body MY choice.
Id rather have 1 person die too soon than have 100 languish in agony . It’s time . I remember bloody debating this at secondary school
A man whose only skill is being well versed in a magic fiction book should not be seen as a credible authority on anything.
Not as dangerous as psychologically traumatising children with the concept of hell.
So if you belong to his church don’t do it?
OK the rest of us may do as we chose with our own lives.
In 2023 in Washington, Oregon, and Canada the percentage of those who said not wanting to be a burden to friends/family was a major factor in opting for ‘assisted dying’ was 56%, 45%, and 36% respectively.
These percentages have increased since introduction. It is not a slippery slope but a real consequence.
The question is are we happy as a society with that future for us?
You know what is dangerous? Keeping people alive when they are ready to go. Trapping them in a moral web that normalises suffering and in fact hails it as ‘penance for your sins’.
People have a right to self determination.
The “slippery slope” of letting people do what they want. Christians don’t like the sheep making their own decisions. Fuck this guy.
His religious opinion on medical matters is entirely irrelevant. Even more irrelevant if his opinion includes people that don’t follow his sky daddy religion.
The UK should take a look at what the Netherlands does.
At least my grandparents and mother died with dignity and not in absolute agony. I can’t imagine what would have happened to them if they lived in the UK.
It’s absolutely heartwrenching to think about.
Absolute big NO to religion in politics and human rights
He’s speaking like the Church is still relevant. It’s not 1751 anymore. No one cares.
This guy !
what is more dangerous and sad is letting someone rot in bed unhappy. And in some cases put families in money trouble.
This would also save the tax payer lots of money in many cases along with making space.
Close family sign papers along with one external person a doctor or undertaker.
This brings peace.
Disestablishment please.
We need to secularise the state.
This guy’s whole job revolves around there being a magic man in the sky. Maybe he shouldn’t have a say in this.
“Slippery slope” arguments are so deeply dishonest. It allows someone to smear any reasonable argument as extreme.
In the real work, gay marriage didn’t lead to people marrying animals, we don’t have 39 week abortions, gay adoption hasn’t acted as “recruitment” and we don’t have any other the other paranoid fantasies the church have dreamed up to scare people away from progressive law making.
Let’s maybe quickly gloss over what delusional people think next time?
I agree with him. Many people in care homes were persuaded to sign DNR forms during covid.
I thought we were supposed to be a Christian county.
What about the oath doctors take to preserve life at all costs?
The NHS is strained. Let’s kill a good number of the ill. That’ll do.
Religion on earth was started correctly it was all the same to understand the planet and its elements.
Good life weather Bad death weather.
I wish that sun would come out and make me feel good and grow the surroundings.
I wish that water would come down to feed us all.
What have I done wrong for this storm lightning and frost.
‘This becomes prayer
The sun = God.
Today we are left with religions that have been moulded by time and leaders. But at the foundation they are all exactly from the same point.
Unfortunately religions are now a divide.
Well if nothing else, this thread has proven that the reports of The Death of The Reddit Atheist were a bit premature.
My father was a paramedic in the NHS for 25 years, he has more than a few stories about him trying to resuscitate an old boy who dropped dead in the living room and some scumbag relative *stepping over the still-cooling body* to grab some trinket off the mantle. Not everyone will pressure their elderly relatives into euthanasia because they care for their wellbeing, and we already live in a world where old folks are tricked and coerced into signing away their life savings by amoral opportunists.
My real worry though is how it will translate into neoliberal politics. I can really see a future where the DWP offer euthanasia to everyone who hasn’t found a job in three months, and then makes a mandatory appointment for you if you haven’t found a job three months after that. It’ll be used as a convenient way to bump off people who are seen as financial burdens on the state. It’s not a “slippery slope fallacy” if there’s already demonstrable precedence for it, the DWP has been turned into anti-human apparatus for political ends before and it can be again.
Got to keep those poor souls suffering long enough to farm some more loosh for your masters eh?
My dad was left in a permanent vegetative state after a stroke and a bleed on the brain. All he could do was breathe. He couldn’t swallow, couldn’t talk, couldn’t see, couldn’t hear anything, no way of communication. As crass as it sounds he was a breathing corpse. Brain scans showed no brain simulation to bright lights, loud noises, strong smells, even taste. The only thing that showed any brain stimulation was when they punched his shoulder. He was classed as brain dead.
What was the point of keeping him alive for two more years? My mum cared for him 24/7 ag home while me and my brothers and sister all came round every day to help. Our lives were effectively on hold for two and a half years while we visited him at hospital and then cared for him at home. Plus the indignity of a man who built the house he was being cared for in with his bare hands then having to have his wife and children bathe him and change his adult nappy before his organs eventually stopped working. He was only 49 when it happened so he was still young and strong that’s why it took his organs so long to stop working.
Why couldn’t he have been dosed up and allowed to die a dignified death?
This is a no brainer with the right checks in place, an opt in policy, a pre issue declaration or whatever format it needs to be to express your wishes in advance of having it.
I wish we had it to have saved my mum’s final 24 hours of hell. And she was “lucky” to only have had 24 hours like that and dying at home in her bed.
Holding her hand and praying wouldn’t have helped at all.