Why we should think carefully before legalising Assisted Dying
It's not hard to feel the case for assisted dying. Watching a loved one in pain while terminally ill is hard. The desire to relieve people of suffering is strong and the instincts behind it are often noble. However to legalise assisted dying is is a big step for us to take as a society and there are historical factors that might make us pause before making such a step, however minor it may seem at the time, and however many safeguards surround it. Michael Burleigh's book, ' Sacred Causes: Religion and Politics from the European Dictators to Al Qaeda' (2006) is a long read, at times depressing and sometimes inspiring, but always impresssively erudite. One of the most interesting sections is a description of the early development of the Nazis' extermination policies. In 1930s Germany, it started with the gradual acceptance of the idea (as it happens, agreed to by the 'Inner Mission' - one of the main Protestant welfare agencies), that sterilization was ...