Assisted dying: MPs vote today but outcome unclear
The Commons votes today on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, introduced by the Labour MP Kim Leadbeater. The Times questioned 508 MPs — more than three-quarters of the total — and found that just over half, 265, said they would support the private member’s bill. Of the rest who declared their intentions, 217 said they would oppose it and 26 said they planned to abstain. The remaining MPs were either undecided or had not made their views clear, The Times says.
The Guardian reports that civil servants and ministers will begin work on implementing the bill if it passes its first stage in parliament today, but it will not be adopted as a government bill because the government is technically neutral on the issue. Ms Leadbeater told The Guardian that the fight for assisted dying was akin to the women’s rights movement and that terminally ill people should be given similar rights over their bodies.
A Catholic Herald report says public opinion about the ethics of assisted dying has largely remained the same, with only a minority holding strong views in favour. The Anscome Bioethics Centre, an organisation specialising in the ethics of medical and biological research, which has close connections to the Catholic church, says the campaign to legalise assisted suicide in England and Wales promotes a clear majority of the public being in favour, but its research shows very different statistics.
The Telegraph reports Seema Malhotra, a Home Office minister, urging MPs not to allow their religion to influence how they vote. She said decisions in the Commons should be made on “a secular basis” because that is the way it has always been done. Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has allowed MPs a free vote on the bill, meaning they do not have to follow a party line. A report commissioned by the Telegraph reveals that more than 30,000 people globally were helped to die by members of the medical profession last year, according to records for assisted suicides in countries where the practice is legal.
Change to the law inevitable says former archbishop
Lord Carey of Clifton, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, says assisted dying laws are inevitable, despite how the vote goes today. Writing in the Telegraph, he says: This is not simply my reading of opinion polls which show the public overwhelmingly in favour … but because this is one of the great moral reckonings of our time. There will be a renewed public clamour, even anger, if it dawns on Saturday that politicians have once again failed to get to grips with the issue. There is an unassailable force and resonance to the arguments for change which arise out of deep conviction and mature compassion.” Lord Carey, who has said that assisting someone in their suicide is an “act of great generosity, kindness and human love” adds that those who say that it is being rushed through “need only look at more than two decades of debate, delay and terrible pain for the terminally ill”.
‘You can’t come back from a wrong decision’
Highly personal views of the outcome of the assisted dying bill have been shared with the BBC. Jan Butterworth has advanced endometrial cancer and has been told she has less than six months to live. She witnessed her husband’s death from liver cancer 30 years ago and does not want to go the same way. “It was a very difficult and very distressing death,” she says. Becki Bruneau has cancer, which has spread to her lungs, but is against any change to the law. “My absolute worry is that if I am in a position like I was two years ago, where I was in so much excruciating pain, and I don’t have someone with me, I could potentially make the wrong decision. The wrong decision is not something you can come back from. You’re dead.” Her view is partly informed by her religious beliefs, but also that the bill would be a danger to people with disabilities or terminal illnesses. Mark Blackwell has Parkinson’s disease and is cared for round the clock by his wife Eppie. He wouldn’t be eligible for assisted dying under the terms of the bill — but he’s still concerned about the impact the law could have on people like him who have progressive illnesses. Full report here
Freud’s analysis
A different aspect of the debate comes from the writer David Aaronovitch, who describes an incident 85 years ago when Dr Max Schur killed an 83-year-old suffering agonies from cancer of the jaw. The patient begged him: “You promised me … not to forsake me when the time comes” and Schur administered a morphine overdose. The patient was Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis. More here
AND IN OTHER NEWS
Three more ‘major CofE abuse scandals will break next year’
Revelations of historic abuse within the Church of England are far from over, with at least three big stories due to hit the news headlines next year, says the investigator, Andrew Graystone. He made the claim in a podcast with journalist Roger Bolton and said he could not understand why the church was waiting for the allegations to break, when it would be far better media management to face up to the issues and allow full and independent inquiries to take place. Graystone, whose 2021 book Bleeding for Jesus detailed the abuse by evangelistic lawyer John Smyth at Christian youth camps in the 1980s, said: “People come to me and tell me about abuse in the church. Ninety-nine times out of 100 they say the church has mishandled it. I know there are at least three major stories affecting the Anglican church that will break in 2025. The church knows that, too. Why are they not releasing details? Why do they want to wait until it is all out in the open?” News that the church covered up complaints about Smyth’s behaviour forced the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, to resign three weeks ago. Hear the full podcast here
Former Bishop of Durham asked to ‘step back’
Paul Butler, who served as Bishop of Durham from 2014 until his retirement in February this year, is among the clergy who have been asked to “step back” from ministry while safeguarding reviews prompted by the Makin review are conducted. Bishop Butler succeeded Justin Welby at Durham, as Welby became Archbishop of Canterbury. Church Times report here
Commons bid for special envoy for religious freedom
The House of Commons is due to debate a private member’s bill today calling for a special envoy to promote freedom of religion or belief. The bill, introduced by the Democratic Union Party MP Jim Shannon, has received support from the Tory former chancellor Jeremy Hunt, who said religious freedom did “not seem to be particularly important to the new Labour government”. Mr Shannon told the Church Times that the UK was giving state aid, without challenge, to regimes with a poor record on freedom of belief, and that risked leaving people being persecuted for their faith. Discussion today may, however, be postponed if debate over the assisted dying bill overruns.
An evening to remember Beatle George Harrison at Bhaktivedanta Manor
An evening of music and readings to celebrate the life of the Beatle George Harrison will be held today, Friday 29 November, the 23rd anniversary of his death, at the Hertfordshire manor house he bought for the Hare Krishna movement, Bhaktivedanta Manor, near Letchmore Heath. The Beatles had developed a love for Indian spirituality and for Krishna consciousness during a trip to Rishikesh, India, in 1967. Two years later, Harrison and Hare Krishna devotees released a single, Hare Krishna Mantra on the Beatles’ Apple label, and after the Beatles split, Harrison released My Sweet Lord, written in praise of Lord Krishna, an important Hindu deity. Over the years that followed, Harrison kept in close contact with the leaders of the movement in England, and continued visiting throughout his life. Read Naomi Canton’s article here.
Court refuses ban on Krishna movement in Bangladesh
The Bangladeshi high court has refused to ban Iskcon, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness — also known as the Hare Krishna movement — after a former leader was jailed for allegedly bringing down Bangladesh’s national flag and hoisting a saffron flag in its place. The arrest of Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari led to protests in Chittagong, in the Bay of Bengal, this week. The government had requested a ban on the society and the Supreme Court lawyer Monir Uddin claimed newspaper reports showed it was a fundamentalist organisation. Times of India report here
Muslim council praises housing report
The Muslim Council of Britain has welcomed the inclusion of its comments in The Older People’s Housing Taskforce Report by the government. “We commend the recognition of the challenges faced by older individuals in black, Asian, and ethnic minority communities, including the critical need for faith and culturally sensitive housing,” said the council’s secretary-general, Zara Mohammed. “This represents a vital step forward in ensuring that … provision … meets the diverse needs of our society.” The number of Muslims aged 65 and over is estimated to increase from 110,000 in 2011, to 450,000 by 2036.
900 serious conversations with AI Jesus
For two months, an avatar of “Jesus” on a computer screen — in the confessional of a Swiss Catholic chapel — has taken questions on faith, morality and modern-day woes and offered Scripture-based responses. Now the 900 conversations from visitors have been transcribed anonymously. “What was really interesting was to see that the people really talked with him in a serious way,” said Marco Schmid, the chapel theologian in Lucerne. “They didn’t come to make jokes.” Topics included true love, the afterlife, feelings of solitude, war and suffering, the existence of God, plus issues including abuse cases in the Catholic church or its position on homosexuality. AP report here
End times for apocalyptic writer
The apocalyptic evangelical writer and preacher Hal Lindsey has died aged 95. Lindsey’s bestselling book, The Late Great Planet Earth (1970), asserted that the Apocalypse was imminent because current events were fulfilling Bible prophecy. He believed the alliance of western European nations was a revival of the ancient Roman Empire, predicted in the books of Daniel and Revelation. The book was adapted into a 1979 film narrated by Orson Welles.
We have heard the chimes at midnight (and we don’t like them)
One resident of a Shropshire market town complained the bellringers were practising into the small hours. No, they said — that’s not us. It’s the church clock. “Sorry if this tradition upsets you,” posted a bellringer from St Andrew’s Church in Shifnal (population: 6,800). The midnight bells were “very important to our church community and should continue”. The Rev Chris Thorpe told BBC Shropshire that the chimes were a “comforting” sound and an “amazing piece of history”.
