[metabrew]

Many opponents to the bill have been very cagey about their reasons for opposing it, and eventually admit it's for nebulous "religious reasons".

Personally I'd like the right to die with dignity if I were unfortunate enough to find myself facing horrible, imminent, certain death.

I'm glad it passed and I hope it makes it into law.

[iteria]

I dislike these proposals because they always eventually encourage the erosion of help for people who very much want to live. I don't think the end of life is very dignified, but I don't trust the government to ever decide to spend money helping people in pain reduce their pain, instead of shrugging and saying, "Well, you can choose to die" We're seeing this in Canada and it was utterly predictable

[nradov]

How much money should governments spend to keep a patient alive one more month? If you've actually thought this through then you should be able to reply with a specific number. Resources are limited so anything spent on caring for those patients can't be spent on other priorities. And don't try to weasel out of the question by claiming that we need to raise taxes or cut military spending or whatever; no matter what we do with other budget line items the answer always has to come down to a specific number.

[wakawaka28]

In Canada they have proposed assisted dying for young people suffering from depression. What better way to harvest organs and save money than by making unproductive young people want to die?

If this was seriously restricted to people facing severe debilitating injuries or pain I might be more in favor. But you know it won't stop there.

[kranke155]

Does the Bible say you shouldn't end your life if you're dying of something incurable and terribly painful?

[technion]

Regardless of what a bible says it is indeed the view of many religious people.

[kranke155]

They probably change their mind pretty quick if they witness a loved one go through endless pain for no reason. Some of them, I'd think. Others, I'm sure, would tell them how much wonderful the gates of heaven will look when they get there.

[ImJamal]

Yes. Every Jew and Christian, until recently, interpreted thou shall not kill (more accurately translated as murder) as a ban on killing yourself or another with the intention of killing yourself.

[kranke155]

Thats odd. Anyway seems like that is a possible reading but not all possible readings.

[ImJamal]

If every Jew and Christian until like 100 years ago think that was the correct interpretation then that is the canonical interpretation. Calling in a possible reading is just not correct.

[defrost]

It would seem that many exceptions were carved out to allow Christian led crusades, pograms, etc. Jewish military history is extensive and embraced more than simple stern words: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_military_history.

[ImJamal]

I am not sure what your point even is. What is typically referred to as killing (thou shalt not kill) is referring to murder / unjustified killing. This is how Jews and Christians have interpreted it for almost the entirety of their existence. It is only in the more recent years that a small minority have disagreed.

There is no exception because it is not talking about just killings only unjust ones.

Wars, and killings within them, can be just (look up just war theory). The point of a war, at least from a Christian perspective, is not to kill people, but to stop an invasion, protect innocents or the like. If it isn't doing that then the war is not just. If you are wanting to kill, rather than protect innocents or whatever then you are fighting for the wrong reason. This is what is known as the principle of double effect.

The Crusades were intended to stop the Muslim invasion, regain Christian lands, prevent the fall of the Byzantine Empire, allow for safe travel of pilgrims, etc. Those are considered just things to protect. (Obviously not all people in the Crusades had the same motives, but that is on them not the war in general).

Also, just because Christians, Jews, or whoever do something, doesn't mean it is inline with their faith. People justify bad things, ignore teachings, don't actually believe, etc.

To give a more modern example and one relevant to the thread, jumping on a live grenade is not considered suicide because you are not attempting to kill yourself, but to stop others from being blown up. You know you are probably going to die, but since you are not intending to kill yourself it is not an unjust killing. Jesus said "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends".