Northern Ireland churches reject euthanasia or assisted dying after statements from George Carey and Church of Scotland

The debate comes as the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill is introduced to the Scottish Parliament for debate.

(The church is traditionally seen as the mother church of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, which cut ties with it in 2018 after it approved same sex marriages).

On Monday this week, former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey also called on the UK government to set aside time for debate on a law to allow assisted dying.

Directly opposing the official view of the Church of England, Lord George Carey told MPs it was an “act of great generosity, kindness and human love” to help dying people to end their lives.

However, Anglicans and Presbyterians in Northern Ireland argued that governments must provide quality palliative care instead.

A spokesman for the Presbyterian Church in Ireland responded: “All life has immeasurable value and is a precious gift from God... The true measure of any society is how it treats its most vulnerable citizens."

The church's pastoral care teams support distressed people towards the end of life and are motivated by care for the individual, and always affirm "the essential dignity of life,” he said.

He noted that in 2018 the church's general assembly "voted overwhelmingly" to oppose euthanasia anywhere in the UK or Republic of Ireland.

In the same year, he said, the church strongly urged governments to resource quality palliative care - a call it reiterated yesterday.

A Church of Ireland spokesman also said it too held that "each and every human life is intrinsically valuable".

He added. "The Church therefore remains committed to the view that there should not be a right to euthanasia. In this context, it is difficult to see how even the most sensitive legislation can do anything other than devalue human dignity."

Clergy across all denominations minister each day to people who are terminally ill, he added, and his denomination had also advocated for free and professional palliative care.

The church opposed the Republic of Ireland's Dying with Dignity Bill, proposed in the Oireachtas in 2020, he added. The bill is currently at the third stage in the Irish parliament.

Lisburn-based Dr Paul Coulter argued that "the sanctity of life is a distinctively Christian belief" which has resulted in modern concepts of human rights and universal healthcare.

He is Executive Director of the Centre for Christianity in Society, and is a medic, pastor and theologian.

"The evidence is clear that where terminally ill people are helped to make decisions about what treatments they wish to receive - and where excellent palliative care is provided - people are much less likely to ask for help to end their lives prematurely,” he said.

When political decisions are taken that some lives are "not worth living" he said, this opens the way for everyone else to ask if their lives are worth living.

"Evidence from countries where assisted dying has been permitted suggests that safeguards intended to protect the vulnerable have not been respected," he added.

Bishop Kevin Doran, Bishop of Elphin and Chair of the Council for Life of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference said his church's teaching is that there is "no such thing as a life without value".

He added: “Assisted Suicide is the response of a society that has nothing to offer to those who are suffering from chronic or degenerative illness."

James Mildred, of Christian public affairs charity CARE, said: "We respectfully disagree with the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey.

"Whilst we understand the reality of very hard cases, involving real suffering which lead some to call for assisted suicide to be legalised, the risks associated with changing the law are simply too great.

"Our main concern is that any right to die would quickly become a duty to die. We would end up creating a subtle, but all too real, pressure on some of the most vulnerable in our communities, including our elderly and those living with disabilities and terminal illnesses.

"Evidence from around the world offers a powerful warning of what can happen if you open the door to assisted suicide. In Canada, in a matter of years, the criteria of eligibility have been expanded and key safeguards have disappeared. It would be far better to provide more resources towards the provision and availability of palliative care.”