Is killing okay?

• Euthanasia

  Mercy killing, assisted suicide
• Religious views on euthanasia


  • Catholic: Do not kill, life is sacred from conception until natural death
  • Jewish: Always wrong to take a life, intention matters
  • Imago Dei: we are all made in the image of God, if you kill a person it is as if you’ve killed the whole world
• It is always wrong to artificially prolong a life according to the Catholic view
• Doctrine of double effect


  1. Intention to achieve a good outcome (e.g. relieve suffering)

  2. Action must be morally neutral

  3. Good must outweigh the bad

  4. Outcome must not be directly intended
• If you perform an action for a good intention, you are not morally responsible for the secondary effect
• Deciding if we live or die is up to God according to the Catholic view