Column: Pilgrim's Progress: Brian Hamill: Choices and Responsibilities
Choice is big word these days. It is constantly used in the media and in the mouths of our politicians. This has come to the fore in very marked way in recent days in the passing in Parliament of the third reading of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, more commonly termed the Assisted Dying Bill.
This has yet to come into law, let alone practical force, but it is already beginning to cast a dark shadow over many aspects of our medical care. Soon, it appears, to roughly sketch its provisions, we shall all have the choice, in certain defined circumstances, to set the day on which we die. The fact that the final vote was so close and its result was greeting within the Parliament chamber itself in complete silence is indicative of how seriously this issue was and always will be.
The contrary reaction outside the chamber of wild jubilation on the one hand and crestfallen despondency on the other indicated how deeply and emotionally charged is this issue. Two sides of the same coin. How is a Christian to react to such an event? Today we demand choice as a natural right in organising our lives as we see fit, and the politicians seek to satisfy that demand as far as possible. But with that right comes a corresponding responsibility. We may have an accepted right to live but we have a corresponding responsibly to live our lives not just according to our own good but also for the good of others, the so-called Common Good. If we claim the right to die then we, as members of the one human race, need to consider the corresponding responsibility according to the Common Good – just as Jesus did when he gave his life for all.
Brian Hamill
St Austin’s Church