Why don't most Christians support legislation that would allow assisted suicide?

If people are terminally ill, and in excruciating pain, why isn't it Christian to alleviate their pain? We seem to have more sympathy for our dogs, who we will put down if their agony exceeds their quality of life. I'm not a Christian, but watching somebody suffer when you can relieve their pain seems downright evil to me. I also have to say it seems a bit presumptuous for people to try and control the end of another person's life.

Does anyone out there oppose assisted suicide on grounds that aren't religious?Why don't most Christians support legislation that would allow assisted suicide?
this question is so personal for me. my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer 17 years ago. the cancer spread. everywhere. quickly. it was in her bones and brain in its final stages. she lived for 2 years after her initial diagnosis. she was expected to make it only 6 months. those 2 years were filled with pain. but, they were also filled with some wonderful memories, too. my little brother was only 13 when she passed. i think the only reason she hung on for 2 years was in the hopes of seeing him graduate. she didn't. i know i wanted her pain to end. but i was also selfish in that i wanted her there with me. i knew how painful it was going to be for my little brother. i remember when she made her last trip to the hospital. they asked us if we wanted her to be placed on a feeding tube. we said no, knowing the feeding tube would only prolong her suffering by keeping her lingering on. i just didn't want her to suffer any longer. none of us did. as a christian, it is so conflicting to ask one's self if it is in your right to decide when another person's life should end. but, at the same time, your heart breaks seeing a loved one suffer. i know i didn't answer your question, per say. but i do hope i gave some insight as to why it is such a personal decision and why people are so passionate one way or the other. peace and God bless.
It is cruel not to honor the wishes of the dying. Let them go with some dignity and how they want. I don't care if your religion says it's wrong.Why don't most Christians support legislation that would allow assisted suicide?
Most interpretations of the bible say that suicide for any reason condemns a person to hell. It's fairly liberally stated in church doctrine, especially historically. The only reason that is non religious that i can think of is some people who can't communicate or who are depressed may inadvertantly and permanantly end their lives, wishing they hadn't once they are dead.
AS long as Doctors don't perform it, I'm fine with it. We should should have suicide booths like in Futurama, and have high tax rates on them. Then we can at least make money. Why don't most Christians support legislation that would allow assisted suicide?
Same reason they are pro-life yet kill abortion doctors and blow up clinics.



Sometimes they're hypocritical. Don't try to understand it.
They are still of the belief that God makes money and he is against ending your own life. If people would only see the HMO and Health-care people make a living off of the long and tortuous death of our sick and dying. They are taking the money right out of the hands of the future and giving it to doctors that know death in inevitable and prolong death for their own gain. Kill me when you can see I can not live life to the fullest. I do not want to live for even one week terminally ill.
"Why isn't it Christian to alleviate their pain?" If I was going to be snarky, I might say "That's what morphine is for, not death, silly..." followed by something about a false dichotomy.



Seriously, though. Because they're opposed to both murder and suicide. It's pretty consistent with the "culture of life" image that Christians (Pope John Paul II, Dubya) sometimes refer to...usually right before they refer to the "culture of death" on the other side of things. The only socially conservative view that doesn't fall in line with this is the one that supports capital punishment. Evan there, though, Southern Baptists support capital punishment, while Anglicans/Episcopalians, Methodists, Evangelical Lutherans, and Mennonites oppose it. With other parts of Protestantism, whether mainline or evangelical, it's too fragmented to say one way or the other, but we know it's mixed. Catholicism traditionally supported it, but Pope John Paul II refined the church's position and it now opposes it in nearly all cases. The ideal would be, and I quote, "very rare, if not practically non-existent." Other than this partial and questionable exception, Christians very consistently hold social views that favor life over the alternative in almost every situation. Exhibit A is abortion, B is euthanasia, C is assisted suicide, and D is stem cells. There are more, of course.



Does anyone out there oppose assisted suicide on grounds that aren't religious? Yes. The general set of positions represented in the "culture of life" idea were primarily articulated by religious leaders, but it is a set of moral values that does not necessarily have to be religious in origin. One does not have to be religious in order to arrive at the conclusion that morality is something of importance with regard to human life.
I believe it is because life is considered a test that god has given to them and its their test to pass or fail not for someone else to decide for them.