Christians are experts on death. So when we tell you about all the problems with assisted dying you should listen to us. We Christians aren’t against you choosing the time and means of your death. No, not at all. It’s just that there are lots and lots and lots and lots of problems with you making this choice and so it shouldn’t be allowed.
https://mega.nz/file/cj8ShQSa#GfbZxGrberJV47WoBmq8lXonbqfEMRrQJXdD1wn8d0M
Platitude of the Day 
And lo, god did decide on the day of creation that each cell of the human body would be able to recreate itself and let the body grow, although he never passed on this information to be written in his holy book when he did speak from any burning bush or to anyone in a dream, as was his usual way of communicating with humans.
God decided also that some cells would be allowed to distort from their original purpose and to grow in an abnormal way and invade other parts of the body. These cells would be immune to the power of prayer and any plea from the owner of the body involved to god to stop them spreading and killing the said body owner. He did this just because he could, even though he is perfect in every way and in no way could be described as “a high and mighty f****r” happy to see his people “tortured and humiliated and finally exterminated” by this decision.
But those who believe in the said “high and mighty f****r” still believe that their “departure from this life, whatever form it takes, will be a welcome into the eternal peace of divine love.” Sweet.
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Tina Beattie’s “lots and lots and lots and lots of problems” in practice turn out to be lots and lots of strawmen. The many countries around the world that have introduced some form of assisted dying legislation have shown that it is eminently possible to devise a system that is pretty well abuse-proof.
Beattie and others who have commented this week seem to regard with horror the idea that someone who is “merely” suffering from mental anguish should want to be considered for assistance in dying. In reality, extreme mental suffering can be just as unbearable as physical agony. The brain is, after all, another bodily organ, and to regard it as sacrosanct on the (false) grounds that it is the seat of the “soul” can be as cruel and illogical as insisting that palliative care is the answer to physical suffering in all other circumstances.
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I don’t understand the problem. As a Christian, Tina Beattie is entirely free to not have assisted dying if she doesn’t want it. This is pure religious freedom of the sort that only exists in secular countries. She can observe the sabbath, refuse to have a same-sex marriage, consider women unfit to be bishops – whatever she wants. The only constraint is that she’s not allowed to impose any of her religious choices on anyone else.
All religious laws are like this. There is literally no point to putting them into actual law, because by definition they only apply to people who want them to apply, and presumably those people don’t need a written law to make them follow the rule.
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Absolutely agree with all the comments above.
If you believe in an IMF and a blissful afterlife, then surely it is cruel and blasphemous to deny someone else the chance to enter it and to prolong their continued suffering in the here and now.
Perhaps Tina and et al could explain their way around their apparently contradictory and paradoxical attitudes and behaviours.
Silly me – expecting consistency and rationality.
Birch
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From time to time I try to engage with Thought For The Day speakers. At least Tina Beattie does reply, although today she was quite quick to question my cognitive and intellectual capabilities.
One of my defaults is to ask theists for evidence to back their assertions. Appararently she wasn’t making an assertion, and evidence is overrated or can be ‘twisted’ to fit agendas (but not hers, obvs).
Meanwhile, I am gathering evidence that theists can get a bit defensive when asked for evidence and may be tempted to go a bit ad hominem. PS For the avoidance of doubt, I do believe the Pope is a Catholic and that ursines are prone to defaecate in sylvan settings.
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I should have included that I do this on eXTwitter.
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I’d like Tina (and any other obfuscating, dissembling, ludicrous Roman Catholic) to tell us clearly whether she believes the pope to be infallible “on faith and morals” and if so, how this fits with the unending history of sexual depravity, incest, murder etc perpetrated by these bare-faced hypocrites, liars and perverts throughout the centuries. Just saying.
Richard W
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I think the reply would be that you were falling into the heresy of Donatism. 🙂
Laurence C.
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What happened to my post??
Richard W
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“What happened to my post??”
I can’t see any comments that are pending moderation.
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