Stem Cells, COVID-19 and the Archbishops – with Chase Kuhn & Megan Best
From The Pastor’s Heart:
“In a special edition today, we address a key issue :- Should you personally choose to use a COVID-19 vaccine candidate that makes use of a cell line cultured from an electively aborted human fetus?
To put it super bluntly: If I get vaccinated for covid-19 am I complicit in an abortion?”
Related: The ‘Must Read’ book in its field.
Dr Megan Best’s Synod speech on the Euthanasia motion
In the ongoing debate on Euthanasia, Dr Megan Best’s speech at Sydney Synod last month is well worth reading and circulating.
“I speak as a palliative care doctor. Palliative care is specialty care for terminally ill patients.
Our state and federal parliaments have been asked to consider changing the law to allow euthanasia. We are told that 85% of Australians support such a change. I believe that what this shows us may not be so much how many people support euthanasia, so much as the fact that many people don’t actually know what it is.
Having discussed euthanasia on talkback radio many times over the years, I have come to realise that misconceptions are rife amongst the general public. Confusion abounds regarding what the legalisation of euthanasia means. But first we need to know what euthanasia is not…”
Read Dr Best’s full speech here (PDF file).
The text of the motion to which she was speaking can be seen on pages 1 and 2 of the Business paper for October 19 2010 (PDF).
COVID Vaccination and The Church
“The recent announcement by the Australian government that increased freedoms would be available to citizens who were double vaccinated for COVID-19, or have exemption on medical grounds, has caused significant consternation in the Christian community. Issues of conscience and concerns about exclusion have been raised as reasons why such measures should not be introduced.
This paper has been written to consider how Australian churches should respond. …”
– The Gospel Coalition Australia has republished this very helpful article by Dr. Megan Best (palliative care doctor, researcher and bioethicist).
Well worth taking the time to read and consider.
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.
Should Christians accept the COVID-19 vaccine?
In an updated piece at SydneyAnglicans.net, Dr. Megan Best addresses the question “Should Christians accept the COVID-19 vaccine?”.
Image: Dr Best with Chase Kuhn and Dominic Steele on The Pastor’s Heart in August 2020.
Palliative Care and The Art of Dying Well
“Modern palliative care emerged in the late 1960s through the work of Dame Cicely Saunders, widely acknowledged as its founder, in the United Kingdom. She believed that caring for people requires caring about them. She combined the tradition of hospitality in medieval religious communities (hospice) with modern medical techniques for treatment of symptoms.
She studied the stories of terminally ill patients and found that their suffering involved, not just physical pain, but also had social, emotional, psychological and spiritual aspects. …”
– At The Gospel Coalition Australia, palliative care doctor Megan Best writes during National Palliative Care Week (23-29 May 2021).
By contrast:
A media release from the Australian Christian Lobby:
South Australian Parliament votes to end life during Palliative Care Week – Australian Christian Lobby.
This week is National Palliative Care Week in Australia. It is a time that the nation’s mind should be focused on supporting and caring for the terminally ill.
Instead, the South Australian Parliament last night voted to progress the physician assisted suicide bill.
Christopher Brohier, SA Director for the Australian Christian Lobby said, “It is evident that government resources are being used to further the physician assisted suicide bill.
“The Health Minister last week released an anonymous paper from Wellbeing SA arguing against institutional conscientious objection rights. The government is therefore putting itself in direct conflict with Calvary Hospitals, one of the state’s largest palliative care providers.
“The Parliament and the Health Minister must take into account the views of Calvary Hospitals,” said Mr Brohier. “The bill must be amended in the committee stage to provide for institutional conscientious objection rights.”
The ACL urged the South Australian Parliament to reject the bill or significantly amend it when the third reading vote occurs.
ENDS
Cathedral Conversation – NSW Abortion Legislation
St John’s Anglican Cathedral Parramatta is hosting a Cathedral Conversation on “Choices: The conversation about abortion we need to have”.
On Monday, 2nd September 2019 from 7:30pm. Read more
Assisted suicide opposed
“Anglicans in New South Wales and Victoria have been urged to contact their MPs to oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide legislation.
The General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia, which met in Queensland, passed a motion opposing the legalisation of ‘assisted dying’. …”
– Report from SydneyAnglicans.net.
Related:
Dr Megan Best’s Synod speech on the Euthanasia motion – from Sydney Synod 2010.
Albert Mohler’s The Briefing, 08 September 2017, from 9’40”.
Dying with dignity
“Recently, the South Australian Parliament debated and rejected the Death with Dignity Bill, which proposed to legalise euthanasia. It was the 15th time a euthanasia bill had been rejected by the house.
The bill’s proposer predicts that this is not the end of the debate, referring to the overwhelming public support for “the right to choose and have a dignified death”. With Andrew Denton regularly advertising his desire for legal euthanasia with evangelistic fervour, I agree that we have not seen the end of the debate. But I still hope for a more honest one. …”
– This is an important article by Dr. Megan Best, bioethicist and palliative care doctor who works for HammondCare. She serves on the Social Issues Committee of the Diocese of Sydney.
From SydneyAnglicans.net.
(Dr. Best is also the author of Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, from Matthia Media.)
Freedom for Faith Sydney Conference, 12th August – bookings now open
“There has never been a more important time for Christians to think about the place of religious freedom in Australia. …
There is a sense that Christians are more and more out of step with cultural elites and that soon they may hold beliefs which are at odds with Australian law. Looking globally we see genocidal persecution of believers on a scale that has never been seen before.
Churches are crying out for leadership in knowing how to live in these changing times. Come and be equipped and refreshed.
Dr Michael Ovey, Principal of Oak Hil College in London will headline a great day of teaching…”
– Freedom for Faith is holding a conference at St. Andrew’s Cathedral on Friday 12th August 2016.
“Sharing the message of freedom in a threatening public square.
A one day conference for Christian leaders. Join Dr Michael Ovey (Oak Hill College London), Professor Iain Benson (Notre Dame Law School), Rev Kanishka Raffel (Anglican Dean of Sydney), Dr Megan Best – ethicist, Dr Sam Chan – Evangelist City Bible Forum, Archbishop Julian Porteous – Catholic Archbishop of Hobart, Lyle Shelton – Australian Christian Lobby & more. ”
See also the interview with Freedom For Faith Executive Director Michael Kellahan on page 10 of The Pulse, May – June 2016 (PDF).
‘Allow me to die!’ — SBS Dateline
On 2CH in Sydney last night, Dominic Steele interviewed SBS journalist Brett Mason and Moore College’s Lionel Windsor, about the SBS TV Dateline programme “Allow me to die!”.
The Dateline programme follows two people who have decided to end their lives.
Related:
The hardest story I’ve told – Brett Mason, SBS.
Dr Megan Best’s speech on euthanasia at Sydney Synod in 2010.
Give Me Liberty and Give Me Death: Belgium’s Brave New Euthanasia Regime – Public Discourse.
Lord Carey ‘wrong to support State-sanctioned suicide’
“Apparently the UK is ‘closer than ever’ to introducing legislation which will permit the terminally ill to end their lives at a time and place of their choosing. Lord Falconer’s Assisted Dying Bill simply will not die: it is deemed to be the virtuous and noble solution to the problem of unbearable suffering; the only ethical and justly moral response to a heartless society which insists on sustaining lives which simply no longer wish to be lived. We treat dogs better.
Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey is amongst the signatories to a letter demanding that the political parties pledge to giving this Bill parliamentary time after the General Election, in order that the issue might be finally resolved. By “resolved”, they mean, of course, that the Bill must be passed, or the issue has not been “resolved” to their liking and will simply need to be revisited until Parliament votes correctly. The only settled conclusion that is acceptable is the one which concludes a settlement in favour of ‘assisted dying’. The argument is teleological; the trajectory is locked…”
– UK Christian blogger ‘Archbishop Cranmer’ weighs in on the hot issue of ‘euthanasia’.
Related:
On the elimination of the suffering – Dr Megan Best. (SydneyAnglicans.net.)
Euthanasia lives again – Social Issues Executive of the Diocese of Sydney.
From Bishop of Tasmania John Harrower:
Euthanasia resources.
Depression, disability & ‘safe’ euthanasia.
A Response to Giddings & McKim’s euthanasia proposal.
New Directions in Assisted Reproduction: How did we end up here?
Dr Megan Best spoke at a workshop at the Gospel Coalition 2013 National Conference in Florida in April.
Very enlightening and pastorally helpful.
56 minutes / 52MB mp3 file via this page.
(Photo: Matthias Media.)
Euthanasia bill to be debated in Tasmania on Tuesday
Bishop of Tasmania, John Harrower, has been working hard to prevent the introduction of Euthanasia in Tasmania. See his blog.
Euthanasia: My letter to Tas MHAs 9 Oct 2013 –
“Last Wednesday I wrote the following letter to all 25 Members of the House of Assembly of the Tasmanian Parliament briefly stating my reasons for asking them to oppose the euthanasia legislation to be voted on this coming Tuesday.
Please pray that our politicians will oppose this deadly legislation.”
Also:
Depression, disability & ‘safe’ euthanasia.
A Response to Giddings & McKim’s euthanasia proposal.
Euthanasia: Pastoral Letter 3 Oct.13.
Related:
On the elimination of the suffering – Dr Megan Best.
Euthanasia lives again.
A Life Already Started Conference
“With one in three women under 40 in Australia having had an abortion, it’s a rare church that has not been touched by this issue.
For this reason, Fervr invites you to the A Life Already Started Conference.
Connect with other rectors, youth ministers, women’s workers and chaplains. Hear about the options available for women faced with an unwanted pregnancy. Get equipped to lovingly respond to and support these young women.
Valuable speakers include author Dr Megan Best, representatives from Diamond Pregnancy Support and Women’s Forum Australia, and also two women who will share their personal stories of God’s healing after abortion.”
The conference is on Saturday 2nd November at MBM, Rooty Hill – Registration: $40, includes morning tea, lunch and a free copy of Dr Best’s new book.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…