Sea changes on euthanasia, conversion therapy and religious freedom – with Mike Southon and Monica Doumit

A “Must-Watch” episode of The Pastor’s Heart:

“It’s going to be an especially bumpy six months for religious freedom issues in New South Wales.

Legalised Euthansia will be rolled out in just a few weeks. But what about faith based aged care institutions, where organizations and staff are conscientious objectors to euthanasia?

Then there’s the Law Reform Commission inquiry into religious schooling and whether the religious exemptions to anti discrimination law should be removed.

And the debate over conversion therapy will come to a head in the parliament.

Monica Doumit is Director of Public Affairs and Engagement for the Catholic Church in Sydney… and was one of the presenters at the Freedom for Faith Conference in Sydney.

Mike Southon is executive director of Freedom for Faith.”

– Watch or listen here. A hugely important topic.

Time to contact Members of Parliament!

‘Intolerable corruption’: Anglicans warn euthanasia may force exit from aged care

“The Anglican Church has advised its aged care homes to discourage residents from using voluntary assisted dying when NSW’s laws take effect this year, and has warned the practice could become so morally corrupting for church-run facilities that it may have to exit the industry. …

‘The Board of Anglicare Sydney decided … VAD will not be available at its residential aged care homes, and the organisation and staff will not actively participate in the provision of any VAD services,’ said the report to the Synod, an Anglican parliament…”

– Story by Jordan Baker in WA Today.

Image from a video by St. Helen’s Bishopsgate.

Euthanasia in Canada. MAiD in hell?

“More people are being euthanised in Canada than anywhere else in the world. In the last official report, for 2022, 10,064 people died through what Canadians call ‘medical assistance in dying’ (MAiD). …”

– Michael Cook writes at Mercator. Link via Anglican Mainstream.

How euthanasia has revived the death penalty

“Belgium is not the only nation to euthanise prisoners. In Canada, where assisted suicide is also offered as a medical treatment, three prisoners have been euthanised to date. The story of one of them, known only as ‘patient one’, illustrates the key problem with this practice. …”

– Spiked Online. (Link via Anglican Mainstream)

Image from a St. Helen’s Bishopsgate video.

General Synod calls on MPs to oppose euthanasia

“The General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia has reaffirmed its principled opposition to euthanasia or physician assisted suicide.

The strong statement came as the NSW Parliament considers a Bill to allow for such a practice. …”

– Story from Russell Powell at SydneyAnglicans.net.

(Photo: James Levingston via SydneyAnglicans.net.)

Call for all Queensland euthanasia amendments to be heard

“The nation’s most extreme euthanasia legislation has been tabled in Queensland Parliament and the government has declared they will end the debate at 5:45pm on Thursday 16 September – whether or not all amendments have been tabled and discussion has been allowed.

This is essentially a gagging rule. 54 amendments have been tabled. Every one of them should be allowed to be presented and considered. …“

– The Australian Christian Lobby, and a number of Queensland politicians are calling for all proposed amendments to the euthanasia legislation to be debated.

Fighting the euthanasia debate and what if we lose?

From The Pastor’s Heart:

“What are the consequences if euthanasia is legalised?  And how do we fight the issue?

Legislation is before the Queensland Parliament and is about to come to the parliament in the UK and in New South Wales to allow euthanasia.

And laws permitting euthanasia have already been passed in Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand… there’s a bit of a sense that even if the conservatives succeed in holding out this time…  at some stage it feels like it will happen.

Euthanasia is illegal in most of the United States, although significantly it is legal in the more progressive Washington, D.C. and seven states.

Andrew Errington is Senior Minister of Newtown Erskineville Angican Church.

Megan Best is a palliative care doctor and  associate professor with the Institute for Ethics and Society at the University of Notre Dame.”

A very important optic.

– Watch or listen here.

Euthanasia in a time of COVID

“I recently heard a man express the view that he would rather vote for a communist dog catcher than for someone who did not respect life. I am not sure about a communist dog catcher but I am sure that a vote for someone who will not defend the sanctity of human life is a vote for a very uncertain future.

Pre-election desire to introduce euthanasia into Queensland by Annastacia Palaszczuk is conspicuous in its timing. While ‘voluntary’, it has to be said that such a commitment to death during the COVID-19 pandemic is very confusing. …”

– Bishop of Armidale, Rick Lewers, discusses the sobering announcement from the Premier of Queensland.

Tasmanian Churches oppose Euthanasia legislation

“The Anglican and Catholic churches say proposed Tasmanian voluntary assisted dying legislation ‘normalises suicide’ and ‘threatens the lives of the vulnerable’. …

Anglican Dean of Hobart the Very Reverend Richard Humphrey said there was no ‘more serious ethical decision’ for Parliament to consider than that raised by the proposed legislation.”

– Story from The Advocate.

The Lethal Corruption of Euthanasia

“Let me take you back 24 years to a moment of great significance during the first great euthanasia debate in Australia. It was a moment that crystallised the concerns of many that the so-called ‘right to die’ would come to be felt by the most vulnerable in our community as a ‘duty to die’.

The year was 1995, just before the Northern Territory passed its euthanasia law. At the height of the debate, our Head of State at the time, Governor-General Bill Hayden, addressed the Royal Australian College of Physicians on the Gold Coast about why he supported euthanasia …”

– Toowoomba GP, and university lecturer in palliative medicine, David van Gend writes in Quadrant.

The Uniting Church of Victoria/Tasmania votes to use Euthanasia

“The Uniting Church has been chasing after the culture ever since its creation in 1977. While there are evangelical churches and ministers within Australia’s 3rd largest Protestant denomination, they are relatively few, and these have been engaging in formal discussions to review their association within the denomination. If the final nail in the coffin hadn’t already been laid, surely it has after today’s proceedings.

Today, the Uniting Church (Synod of Victoria and Tasmania), voted in support of motions to allow euthanasia in their agencies. …

The Uniting Church has already littered the landscape with graves where there were once churches, and now they are giving consent for their health agencies to sanction euthanasia. It is one thing for a Government to legalise euthanasia, but for an association of Christian churches to stand together and vote in favour of their own agencies to allow this practice? And then have the audacity to attach the name of Jesus to this?”

– Murray Campbell shares the distressing news, and has some strong words.

(Image: UCA Vic/Tas.)

Voluntary euthanasia to begin in Victoria as assisted dying laws take effect this week

“Patients will take a glass, mix the drug with two liquids provided by the pharmacist and swallow the mixture. …”

– The latest developments in Victoria. ABC News.

Euthanasia Bill Defeated in the Senate

“The push to allow territories the right to legalise euthanasia has foundered in the Senate, with a majority of the chamber voting against the proposal before it reached the committee stage.

The proposal appeared doomed when senators Brian Burston and Peter Georgiou reversed their position on the legislation, switching from yes votes to no votes. …”

– Story from The Guardian.

See also: Euthanasia Defeat In Senate Calls For Congratulations – Australian Christian Lobby:

“We know from international experiences that euthanasia is a slippery slope which leads to cases like in Belgium recently where a nine-year-old with a brain tumour and an eleven-year-old with cystic fibrosis were euthanaised.

“The inherent value of every life must continue to be maintained.  Australia must not become the kind of society where some lives where considered worthier of life than others.” – Martyn Iles.

(Image: St. Helen’s Bishopsgate.)

What the Leyonhjelm Euthanasia Bill means for the Vulnerable

“If the Leyonhjelm bill passes federal parliament one thing is guaranteed: the ACT will implement euthanasia legislation.

As reported in the ABC today, Chief Minister Andrew Barr has written to all but the staunch objectors to euthanasia in federal parliament urging them to support the bill. …”

– Media release from The Australian Christian Lobby.

Euthanasia’s Dark Side

“Slippery slope arguments are not always invalid.

Indeed, in some cases they are very important. …

I once heard a Dutch researcher speaking about the situation in his home country, where euthanasia was legislated in 2002. He summarised the litany of shocking outcomes after more than a decade of euthanasia, by saying that in his country, the ‘psyche of care’ has been fundamentally changed.

Once you accept that death is a valid form of care, you have changed a great deal.”

– The Australian Christian Lobby’s Martyn Iles presents some deeply disturbing examples of what has already been happening on that slippery slope.

Next Page →