Where the Faiths Stand
Oregon's law allowing a dying person to seek a doctor's prescription for a lethal dose of medication breaks with traditional religious doctrines:
Catholic:
"We are encouraged, if our end is to be loving, to examine how can we do that best. I don't love someone best by saying, 'There are no possibilities for you, no hope or meaning...' Who am I to say that?"
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Protestant:
"The New Testament teaches that we are to model ourselves on Christ. I'm not really to live for myself, I'm to live for the glory of God and the life of others."
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Jewish:
"You are given a self when you are born, but you can't willfully destroy it. You can refuse to prolong dying or to deepen the pain with interventions. But (suicide) ends all possibility of human flourishing."
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Muslim:
"Islam rules (suicide) out. The trend is to accept your destiny as God-given destiny. Suffering is not regarded as evil, and there is faith that God ... helps people to endure pain and suffering."
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Buddhist:
"There are famous Buddhists in history who have committed suicide, but by far most Buddhist ethicists would say this is unacceptable. A doctor who assists someone in dying is called the 'knife-bringer.' "
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Hindu:
"You and I cannot take our lives into our own hands. It is regarded as a form of ego. This ego keeps you in bondage in the cycle of reincarnation."
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