The leading anti-assisted dying group Christian Action, Research and Education (CARE) used Christian-specific reasoning to get its supporters to write to their MPs – but then omitted that reasoning from the default email that it asked them to send. Humanists UK has drawn attention to this gap between the reasons with which people were being motivated to write, and what their MPs would then see as the reasons they wrote.
CARE hosts on its website a ‘write to your MP’ tool that provides a default message that people can use to write to their MP asking them to oppose assisted dying. MPs Humanists UK has spoken to have reported receiving many emails from people using CARE’s tool. The default text doesn’t mention religious arguments at all, but gives as the constituent’s only reasons as ‘concern about the very rushed time frame’, inadequate ‘safeguards’, ‘coercive control’, and ‘feeling like a burden on others’.
The reasons given are in striking contrast to the emails that CARE has sent to its list to advertise the tool. The first, on 7 October, said:
‘As Christians, we have a high view of human life, made in God’s image. We are called to emulate our Saviour’s concern for the vulnerable, downtrodden, and powerless in society, opposing actions that will harm our neighbours. And we are equipped to articulate a better story: full of Gospel hope. The Spirit can help us to do this in love, speaking with grace and truth.
…
‘I trust that you’ll join us in prayer about this issue, asking for God’s mercy on our nation, and powerful intervention. Whatever the outcome, we trust in Him. “Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge” (Psalm 62:8).’
A second, on 16 October, started and then finished:
‘Throughout history, the Church has strongly opposed assisted suicide and euthanasia. God’s word teaches us that human beings, made in God’s image, are to be protected and cherished.
…
‘I trust that you’ll join us in prayer about this issue, asking for God’s mercy and powerful intervention. With Him all things are possible.’
The linked-to webpage from which people then write to their MP says ‘Please remember to: …Speak the truth in love. (cf. Eph 4:15).’
On Sunday The Observer published an investigation alleging that some ‘grassroots’ campaigns opposed to assisted dying are in fact coordinated and financed by conservative Christian pressure groups. It pointed specifically to Care funding of Care Not Killing, which says it is secular, and says the latter’s ‘chief executive, Gordon Macdonald, and its board chair, Nola Leach, both formerly worked for Care – the latter as chief executive.’ It points to other campaigns funded by Care or founded by Care staff that don’t mention religious reasons for opposing assisted dying, including a group representing disabled people.
Humanists UK also published its own research into some religious groups’ influence in the assisted dying debate. That includes religious groups funding ostensibly secular groups. At a Christian Medical Fellowship event, a speaker stated that for a disability rally against assisted dying, Christian Concern ‘provided the financial support, made the placards, came along, got the disabled people along, and were completely invisible in doing it.’
Humanists UK Chief Executive Andrew Copson commented:
‘It’s clear that CARE’s religious beliefs are a motivating factor in its opposition to assisted dying. This is a perfectly legitimate motivation to have and a motivation that should always be welcome in a plural society. But the fact that it is using religious reasons to get people to write to MPs, without mentioning those reasons in their letters is part of a concerning trend, as highlighted recently by an investigation by The Observer. Parliamentarians making decisions in the days and months ahead will benefit from knowing the motivations of the groups and individuals placing evidence and argument before them to contextualise all views.’
For further comment or information, media should contact Nathan Stilwell at nathan@humanists.uk or phone 07456200033.
If you have been affected by the current assisted dying legislation, and want to use your story to support a change in the law, please email campaigns@humanists.uk.
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In full, the default text in CARE’s write to MP tool reads:
As your constituent, I’m writing to ask you to oppose Kim Leadbeater’s ‘assisted dying’ Bill at Second Reading, on Friday 29 November. Wherever you stand on this issue personally, I hope you’ll share my concern about the very rushed time frame before this month’s vote. This is no way to legislate on any matter, let alone something of this gravity.
I am also troubled that the ‘safeguards’ Ms Leadbeater is relying upon don’t seem to be fit for purpose. Experts who work with vulnerable people stress that coercive control is slow and insidious, and people can be conditioned into thinking a certain course of action is ‘best for them’. How can doctors and judges have the time, training and capacity to spot coercion in every case?
In the State of Oregon – where assisted suicide has been legal for decades – people cite feeling like a burden on others around them as a motivating factor. This is often seen among people who have become frail or dependent on others, so we would surely see deaths driven by this thinking in England and Wales as well.
I’m also concerned that marginalised people may choose assisted death because they cannot access sufficient support. As Disability Rights UK – the UK’s largest disabled people’s organisation – recently said in a statement opposing Ms Leadbeater’s Bill: “Assistance to die should not be easier to access than assistance to live. Parliament and Government should not allow assisted dying when political choices undermine our lives, and rights, every day.”
Some people argue that we need assisted dying. But not if we ensure the availability of good end of life care, to deal with the fear of a painful, undignified end. Please will you champion efforts to direct resources where they are needed – that is, towards providing excellent palliative and end of life care at a local level.
The duty of the law is to protect. If you vote to change the law, it will no longer protect the vulnerable. Evidence from countries around the world is that these laws start off as being for the terminally ill or those who are in great pain but expand to allow wider access.
Parliament has looked at this issue repeatedly and concluded that law change is simply too dangerous. I believe that this is still true and urge you to please vote against this dangerous Bill and instead support efforts to improve end of life and palliative care.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I very much look forward to reading your response.
Humanists defend the right of each individual to live by their own personal values, and the freedom to make decisions about their own life so long as this does not result in harm to others. Humanists do not share the attitudes to death and dying held by some religious believers, in particular that the manner and time of death are for a deity to decide, and that interference in the course of nature is unacceptable. We firmly uphold the right to life but we recognise that this right carries with it the right of each individual to make their own judgement about whether their life should be prolonged in the face of pointless suffering.
We recognise that any assisted dying law must contain strong safeguards, but the international evidence from countries where assisted dying is legal shows that safeguards can be effective. We also believe that the choice of assisted dying should not be considered an alternative to palliative care, but should be offered together as in many other countries.
Read six reasons we need an assisted dying law.
Read more about our analysis of the assisted dying inquiry.
Read more about our campaign to legalise assisted dying in the UK.
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