Essay On Euthanasia

Christianity and Hinduism outwardly oppose euthanasia. However, their reasoning behind this common point of view both aligns and differs. For Christians, euthanasia contradicts the belief that life is a gift from God and therefore inherently valuable, created in God’s image and imbued with the Holy Spirit. For Christians, the euthanizer disobeys the commandment “thou shalt not kill” and the euthanized disobeys the Biblical stance on suicide. Furthermore, euthanasia intrudes upon God’s planned cycle of life and death. For Hindus, euthanasia infringes upon several fundamental ideas, like ahimsa, karma, and dharma.

According to Christianity, life is a gift from God, created in his image, and imbued with the Holy Spirit. Therefore, euthanasia is an offense against God’s creation and the Holy Spirit. Christian scripture provides textual evidence in support of this perspective. For instance, Acts 17:24-25 (NIV) states that “the God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone

Therefore, euthanasia disobeys the principle of ahimsa since euthanasia is, at the most basic level, killing another human being. Both the euthanizer and the euthanized disobey ahimsa, since the principle also applies to suicide. For example, the Isa-Upanishad says “Devilish are those worlds called, with blind darkness covered o'er! Unto them, on deceasing, go whatever folk are slayers of the Self.” Therefore, this Vedic text, highly revered in Hinduism, asserts that those who commit suicide will go to a “devilish” place after death. Furthermore, since the individuals involved in the euthanasia disobeyed the principle of ahimsa, they interrupt their karmic cycle and position themselves to be reborn farther from