Religion and Life

• abortion

  the deliberate termination of a pregnancy or removing of a foetus from the womb before it is able to survive independently
• quality of life

  refers to issues affecting a person's general wellbeing eg. their wealth, standard of living, relationships, mental and physical health - this is used to measure the value of a person's life by assessing how much it satisfies the person
• sanctity of life

  refers to the preciousness and high value of life; for Christians this applies specifically to human life as it is a gift from God since we have been made in his image
• value of life

  not a religious term, but often used by Christians and Muslims to stress the value of a person over economic or material value eg. a mother's life having more value than that of her unborn child
• Christian Quotes on Abortion:

  • Ecclesiastes Chapter 3: 'There is a time for everything... a time to kill and a time to heal'
  • 1 Corinthians 3:16-17: 'If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred and you are that temple'
  • Tertullian: 'It does not matter if you take away a life that is born, or destroy one that is coming to the birth. In both circumstances, destruction is murder'
  • Isaiah 49:15: 'Can a mother forget the child of her womb? Should she forget? I shall never forget you for I have inscribed you in the palm of my hands'
• Muslim Quotes on Abortion:

  • Qur'an: "If anyone kills a person - unless in retribution for murder or spreading corruption in the land - it is as if he killed the whole of mankind'
  • Qur'an: 'Do not kill your children for fear of poverty - we shall provide for them and for you - killing is a great sin'
  • Qur'an: 'Until 120 days, it has no spirit' (referencing the foetus)
• What does UK law say about abortion?

  • Legal in England up to 24 weeks under the 1967 Abortion Act
  • No time limit if there is a substantial risk to the woman's life or that there will be severe foetal abnormalities
  • No age limit
  • 2 doctors must approve the abortion under the following conditions:

  1. Risk to mother's life
  2. Child will be medically or physically handicapped
  3. Risk of injury to mother's mental or physical health
  4. Risk to mental or physical health of living children

  • Typical gestation period is 40 weeks
• Pro Choice Arguments:

  • Having a child could affect the mother's physical or mental health
  • Pregnancy could be a result of crime eg. incest, rape
  • The child may have an unacceptable quality of life eg. if they have a severe disability
  • Social factors could also affect quality of life eg. if the parents are too poor or too young to be good parents
  • Reduces population size
  • Abortion can be a substitute for contraception
• Pro Life Arguments:

  • Sanctity of life
  • Children are a blessing: Jesus told off his disciples when they stopped mothers from bringing their children to him to be blessed
  • Everyone is unique and no one knows what good an unborn child may do in their life
  • Abortion is murder if you believe that life starts at contraception, which goes against the Sixth Commandment
  • If the child is unwanted they can be adopted
  • Abortion could be used as a form of contraception by irresponsible couples
  • United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child says that children need protection before and after birth
• ensoulment

  the belief that the foetus has a soul
• Christian Views on Abortion:

  • Believe in ensoulment and the sanctity of life
  • Catholics and Anglicans believe that abortion is murder so is always wrong because life begins at contraception and is God given
  • Goes against natural law
  • All life starts out in the same way, so should be allowed to develop and survive
  • Some support the 'principle of double effect', the acceptance of women having lifesaving treatment while pregnant which ends the pregnancy
  • Some accept abortion if it is the 'lesser of 2 evils' eg. if the mother has been raped
• Muslim Views on Abortion:

  • Believe in ensoulment and sanctity of life
  • Abortion may be permitted before ensoulment with valid reasons eg mother's life is endangered, foetus will have a disability or disease causing relentless pain
  • Most believe ensoulment happens at 120 days - some believe 40, others that life begins at contraception
  • The Hadith teaches that anyone who allows an abortion to be carried out after ensoulment will be punished in Jahannam; the Qur'an teaches that parents who kill their children will answer to Allah on the Day of Judgement with their children as witnesses
• Reasons For Animal Testing:

  • Can save lives of people that have severe illnesses eg. cystic fibrosis through producing medications and researching cures
  • Animal suffering can relieve human suffering
  • Some animals are not mentally able to understand what is happening to them
  • Some value humans over animals as we have sanctity of life and are made in God's image
• Reasons Against Animal Testing:

  • We should be kind to everyone, including animals
  • People who carry out experiments without a license can be prosecuted for animal cruelty
  • A drug working on an animal doesn't mean that it will work on a human
  • Animals can't give consent
  • All life is made by God
  • Animals are sentient so feel pain, pleasure and fear
• vivisection

  the practice of performing operations on live animals for the purpose of experimentation or scientific research
• Christian Beliefs on Animals:

  • Although humans are created in God's image therefore have sanctity of life, animals are still to be valued as God created them too
  • When God destroyed the world he asked Noah to keep animals safe in the ark, yet allowed him to eat meat after the flood
  • Many Christians do eat meat; Peter has a vision where God commands him to kill and eat a variety of animals
  • Most Christians support animal testing if it is to save human lives, but it must be carried out with respect and compassion
• Muslim Beliefs on Animals:

  • All living creatures are made by Allah
  • Animals were made for the benefit of mankind but should never be abused
  • Battery farming or keeping animals in cages is haram as it is unjust and not compassionate
  • Most Muslims support animal testing as long as suffering is kept to a minimum
  • Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) valued animals a lot: when a prostitute gave a dying dog a drink of water he told her that she would be forgiven for her sins
  • Animals can not see another animal being killed before they are killed - Muhammad believed that this would be like giving them two deaths
• Christian Quotes on Animals:

  • Genesis 7:2-3 - 'Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate... keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth'
  • Genesis 9:3 - 'Everything that lives and moves about will be food'
  • Romans - 'The one who eats everything must not judge with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them'
  • Luke 12:6 - 'Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God'
  • Proverbs 12:10 - 'The righteous care for the needs of their animals'
• Muslim Quotes on Animals:

  • Qur'an 17:44 - 'There is not a single thing that does not celebrate His praise'
  • Hadith - 'Whoever kills a sparrow or anything bigger than that without a just cause, God will hold him accountable on the Day of Judgement'
  • Qur'an 6:38 - 'All the creatures that crawl on the earth and those that fly with their wings are communities like yourselves'
  • Qur'an 40:79-80: 'It is God who provided livestock for you, some for riding and some for food'
• Christian Beliefs on Life After Death:

  • Purgatory (Catholics): where souls are purified to achieve the holiness necessary to enter Heaven
  • Heaven: place with no suffering where God is; where Christians aspire to end up through being a good person and having faith in Jesus
  • Revelation 21:4 'There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain'
  • Hell: place of punishment, originally designed for Satan and his demons - can be interpreted literally or as a metaphor for the struggle of being disconnected from God
  • Revelation 14:11 'The smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever'
• Muslim Beliefs on Life after Death:

  • Souls wait in Barzakh until the Day of Judgement, then spend Akhirah either in Jannah or Jahannam depending on how they responded to their struggles
  • Day of Judgement announced by Israfil blowing trumpet. Dead are resurrected in new bodies and brought in front of Allah where the books of their lives and deeds are opened and weighed up by 2 angels
  • Jannah is a beautiful garden free of suffering
  • Muslims who haven't done enough good in their lives will eventually be able to leave Jahannam (place of fire, punishment, torture) but nonbelievers will stay forever
• Ian McCormack:

  • Stung by jellyfish while night diving in Mauritius
  • Never believed in God but was taught the Lord's Prayer growing up, which he prayed desperately as he was taken to the hospital, paralysed and dying
  • Doctors couldn't save him: he was declared dead and put in a morgue
  • He claims to have woken up in Hell and been terrified until God lifted him up to Heaven, where Jesus gave him the choice between staying in Heaven or returning to Earth to tell people that there is an afterlife
  • He chose to return, becoming a Christian preacher
• Reasons For Euthanasia:

  • Death with dignity is better than suffering for a long time before dying
  • At least 5% of terminal pain can't be fully controlled
  • An injection can quickly and humanely end suffering
  • Everyone has the right to a good quality of life and should be able to choose how they live or die
  • Other people suffer when they see someone they love in pain
  • If it is acceptable to put animals down when they are in pain, it should also be acceptable to let humans die when they are in pain
  • It is getting harder to take care of our aging population
• Reasons Against Euthanasia:

  • Form of murder
  • It is 'playing God' and deciding when a person's life should end - this should be in God's control as we have sanctity of life and our life is a gift from Him
  • Doctors can be wrong in their diagnosis: patients may recover
  • Many people, particularly elderly people, consider themselves a burden when they are not and choose euthanasia for this reason
  • The Hippocratic Oath forbids doctors from killing their patients
  • Voluntary euthanasia could lead to compulsory euthanasia
  • Sick people should be loved and cared for, not killed
  • Can be used as suicide
• Christian Views on Euthanasia:

  • Mostly opposed - goes against sanctity of life
  • Modern drugs and hospice care allow dying people to end their lives with dignity and without pain
  • Suffering allows Christians to get closer to God and empathise with how Jesus suffered on the cross
  • Christians that support euthanasia do so if they believe it is the most compassionate thing to do
  • Exodus 20:13 'You shalt not murder'
  • Matthew 5:7 'Blessed are the merciful'
  • Psalm 139:16 'All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be'
• Muslim Views on Euthanasia:

  • Haram - goes against sanctity of life
  • No one knows Allah's plan: the person may be suffering for a purpose known only to Him
  • The illness could be to test faith or to allow the people around the ill person to look after them and gain a place in Jannah
  • Sin against Allah, the individual and the community
  • Al-Qadr (Predestination): ending life early goes against Allah's plan
  • Qur'an 3:145 'No soul may die except with God's permission at a predestined time'
  • Qur'an 17:33 'Do not take life which God has made sacred, except by right'
• Euthanasia Case Studies:

  • Tony Nicklinson: had locked-in syndrome and fought for the right to end his life in 2012; he lost his case so refused food and died
  • Harold Shipman: doctor responsible for at least 236 murders of elderly patients whose wills he forged
  • Tony Bland: was in a persistent vegetative state after Hillsborough stadium tragedy and his parents successfully campaigned for his hydration and artificial nutrition to be withdrawn as they believed he wouldn’t want to carry on
  • Richard Shelby: ended his life at a Dignitas clinic
• self determination


  making a personal choice to die early because you are terminally ill
• terminally ill


  when a person can’t be cured
• palliative care


  medicine that improves the quality of life for people with terminal illnesses without curing the illness - provided in a hospice
• euthanasia


  helping someone to die painlessly with compassion as they have an incurable illness and do not wish to live anymore
• voluntary euthanasia


  when a person asks someone to help them end their life
• non voluntary euthanasia

  when a person is too ill or is in a coma so can’t ask to end their life, so the doctor ends it for them as it is believed to be in their best interest
• involuntary

  when a person is able to provide consent but isn’t asked or doesn’t want to die, yet their life is ended anyway
• active euthanasia

  ending a life through deliberate action, such as a lethal injection
• passive euthanasia

  allowing a terminally ill person to die by withdrawing or withholding medical treatment, for example removing a person's feeding tube or taking a person off a life support machine
• Christian Quotes on Euthanasia:

  • Matthew 5:7 'Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy'
  • Psalm 139:16 'All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be'
  • Ecclesiastes 3:2 'For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven, a time to be born and a time to die'
  • 10 Commandments 'You shall not murder'
  • Pope Francis 'Euthanasia is a grave violation of the law of God, since it is the deliberate and morally unacceptable killing of a human person'
  • Salvation Army 'Euthanasia... undermines human dignity and is morally wrong'
• creationism

  a religious belief that God created the world exactly as described in sacred texts such as Genesis 1
• Big Bang

  the scientific explanation for how the universe begun, in which a cosmic explosion 15 billion years ago formed the planets, moons and stars
• fundamentalism

  the belief that the Bible is God's direct, inerrant word