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Good morning. 鈥淧olitics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies.鈥� So quipped political writer Ernest Benn, a century ago 鈥� and some would say, not a lot has changed since.
There is, however, a risk in deciding to tune out from politics, given that our MPs and Lords regularly grapple with extremely consequential issues that the general public can also influence. Last Wednesday, the Assisted Dying Bill was tabled in the House of Commons. If passed, this Bill will allow terminally ill adults who are mentally competent to choose a medically assisted death. For the first time in nearly a decade, Parliament will debate whether individuals should, under certain circumstances, have the right to ask their doctors to kill them.
Inevitably, the debate will be much concerned with practical considerations. Are the safeguards quite strict enough? What is to stop the law extending to non-terminal conditions, or mental illnesses? How will it be possible to protect elderly or disabled individuals especially from feeling coerced into choosing death to avoid being a burden? Such worries are very important. But there is a question behind all these questions: what the meaning of life is in the first place.
From a Christian perspective, life is a sacred gift. The Psalms speak of how human beings are 鈥渇earfully and wonderfully made鈥�. Each life, no matter how frail or burdened by illness, is said to possess an inherent and inestimable value. It follows from this that while we should do all we can to alleviate unnecessary pain and distress, it鈥檚 not up to any of us to decide when a life should end.
To hold such a position can sometimes seem heartless. I witnessed my own mother lose her battle with cancer earlier this year, and it was horrible to see. But it was my mother who reminded me of how Pope John Paul II, who suffered tremendously in his final years, spoke of the 鈥渕ystery of suffering鈥� as something that can unite us with Christ鈥檚 own passion 鈥� and that was beautiful to hear. It changed the way I understood my mother鈥檚 condition, conferring on it a new dignity.
Many people will take a starkly different view. This is a fraught subject, and it is far from clear how the Bill on Assisted Dying will be received. One thing at any rate is certain. Before any of us can decide on whatever practical measures might ensure a so-called 鈥済ood death鈥�, we must address the much harder, philosophical and religious question that is as old as humanity itself. We must first of all ask: what makes a good life?