I was surprised to hear the PM is willing to re-open the euthanasia debate. I imagine this must be due to pressure from the Greens, as I can’t recall the subject being raised in the previous three years. I suppose we will see more of these sorts of debates happening in the current parliament - and perhaps that’s a good thing.

Groups like the ACL are already preparing to do battle on this subject again, and Christians seem to be the prime advocates of the case against euthanasia. Proponents of the so-called “right to die” are often infuriated by this. After all, they argue, why should such an intensely personal decision be subject to someone else’s religious conscience? I think they have a point - I personally would not want to be bound to a “holy book” that I reject, or forced to obey a “deity” I do not not believe in.

It’s plain to most Christians that we cannot enter the political arena and begin, “Well, the Bible says…” Certainly we’d be concerned if an Islamic MP prefaced his speeches with, “The Koran says…” For some time now, I’ve been convinced that the only foundation for political debate in a pluralistic society is natural law (Romans 2), combined with plain reason. But given this, I think we can make a case that euthanasia is a bad idea.

Across the political spectrum, all agree that government should be for the common good, and that government has a special responsibility to look after the most vulnerable. Yet it seems certain that the most vulnerable will be at greatest risk if euthanasia legislation is passed. A report into the 4 people euthanased when it was legal in the NT, found that all had manageable physical pain - they were actually suffering from depression at the time of their decision. The truth is that those with mental illness will be over-represented in euthanasia cases.

There are futher problems. Some studies from the Netherlands suggest that up to 25% of euthanasia cases are performed “without consent”, generally because the (patient? victim?) was deemed no longer competent to make such a decision. There have been reports of elderly (another vulnerable group) who feared going to hospital for this very reason.

Doubtless there will be much debate on this over the coming months, and I find myself looking forward to it. This is a debate that we should not be afraid of, because our position is strong. And there is every reason to hope that reason and right will prevail.