Barry Duke, the Angry Atheist

Pointing and laughing at religious lunacy for more than half-a-century

UK Church leaders are clamouring to obstruct assisted dying in the UK

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AHEAD of the first reading in Parliament this week of a bill that would give terminally ill people in England and Wales the right to end their lives, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, centre, repeated the tired old “slippery slope” argument, and two other senior clerics — Mark Davies, the Bishop of Shrewsbury, right, and Catholic Cardinal Vincent Nichols — stuck their holy noses into the issue.

Given that less than of half the UK population profess to be Christian, and two-thirds if Britons support assisted dying, they, and others deeply opposed to a change in the law should, to put it plainly, shut the fuck up!

The last time the topic was voted on at General Synod in 2022, only seven percent of the Church of England’s national assembly said they supported a change in the law, according to the BBC, which pointed out that this “contrasts with the strong majorities in favour of the law reflected in public polling.”

But the imbecile Welby sets no store by public opinion:

There will be people who look at that and say the Church is totally out of touch, that they totally disagree with us, and say they are going nowhere near a church, but we don’t do things on the basis of opinion polls.

Meanwhile Bishop Davies warned that the bill threatens “a momentous change to society in both its care and attitude to the sick and the aged”. In a letter he predicts dire consequences if Parliament chose a “dark and sinister path”.

With a clear misunderstanding of bodily autonomy and the right people should have to choose their manner of dying, he burbled:

As we see populations ageing across western countries with a diminished number of younger people to support them, this is an especially dangerous moment for politicians to open the door to euthanasia: the medical killing of the sick, the disabled and the elderly.

And this garbage frrom Nichols:

Once assisted suicide is approved by the law, a key protection of human life falls away. Pressure mounts on those who are nearing death, from others or even from themselves, to end their life in order to take away a perceived burden of care from their family, for the avoidance of pain, or for the sake of an inheritance.

According to Dignity in Dying, Lord Falconer’s Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults Bill will have its Second Reading on Friday, November 15.. Members of the House of Lords will debate assisted dying for the first time since Baroness Meacher’s Bill was debated in 2021.

Dignity in Dying says the Bill presents:

A robust, evidence-based proposal for law change that seeks to provide compassionate choice to dying people who urgently need it and introduce stronger protections for everyone in England and Wales.

Hat tip: Malcolm Dodd (Davies report).

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Off the hook. Serial evangelical abuser Jonathan Fletcher won’t stand trial.

IN 30 years as vicar of Emmanuel Church Wimbledon, London, the Rev. Jonathan Fletcher, above, is alleged to have engaged in naked beatings, nude swimming and massages, as well as other sexual misconduct, and bullying and “spiritual abuse.” Then, in July 2024 he was charged with eight counts of indecent assault and one of grievous…

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13 responses to “UK Church leaders are clamouring to obstruct assisted dying in the UK”

  1. malcolmjdodd Avatar
    malcolmjdodd

    This sad species is threatened with extinction and realise that euthanasia will hasten their demise.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. stephenharvie Avatar
      stephenharvie

      Their only hope of relevance is to stir up fear and speak out against public opinion. A shame they don’t speak out about anything else; food banks, child poverty, tax avoidance, global warming etc

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      1. Broga Avatar
        Broga

        Stephen: Can it be true that a highly educated, intelligent man like the Archbishop of Canterbury and so many others believe what they preach.? Or do they fill their roles and preach their superstitions as a means of keeping their well paid roles and comfortable lifestyle.

        Do they really believe that Mary was a virgin, impregnated by a God. That man is made in God’s image? Does God have diabetes?: six million Brits have it and it is nasty; 42 per cent in the USA are obese- is that in God’s image.

        Belief in religion is only possible with massive hypocrisy and a persistent blocking of rational thought. I knew a mathematics lecturer who was a devout christian. I asked him how he could believe so much that was unbelievable. He said he made sure that he did not think about it. And his life with the belief was something he enjoyed. Hed died four years ago after a lengthy, painful and terminal illness. I don’t know if he expected to go to heaven.

        Liked by 2 people

        Reply
        1. stephenharvie Avatar
          stephenharvie

          Surely they would be lying hypocrites if they only did the job for their well paid roles and comfortable lifestyle. That and the steady supply of young boys.

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply
  2. Broga Avatar
    Broga

    I don’t read what Welby says or indeed any of the opposers. I find reading their sick religious crap is just too painful. My late mum, (aged 101 and still refused relief) had three painful months pleading for death and I sat by her bed for many hours. The only discussions that distracted her were endless recollections of the time when I was young.

    We all die. No exceptions for wealth, status or power. I find that attractive. Ultimately nature is democratic regardless of what we were in life. Perhaps Welby, and his religious types, may find himself longing, or even pleading for, assisted dying.

    The additional burden that Welby and co, are putting on those desperate to die is a scandal. Those suffering are currently left in the most agonizing doubt. Ironic in view of what the lying hypocrites preach.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  3. Matilda Avatar
    Matilda

    I write from ignorance of end of life care, but am relating an anecdote that happened to me last month. On a package tour abroad, one day, a woman came to sit next to me on the coach and asked about my experiences as an older solo traveller. She said she wants to travel alone soon, (she was with 2 friends on this trip,) ‘before I get too old.’ She began to tell me of her life. Her husband is terminably ill with Parkinsons and Cancer. She desperately needed a break, so paid for fulltime care to make this trip. She said, California, their home state, allows assisted dying and, four times her husband has signed the documents to do this, but four times hasn’t been able to go through with it. She spoke movingly of the awful distress this has caused her and their children and grandchildren. So….just an aspect of the dilemma. I’d privately thought I will hope to opt for voluntary euthanasia if I have a prolonged, painful terminal illness….and now think I must be aware of how to try to minimise the distress to my loved ones….if that’s possible. IDK.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  4. Broga Avatar
    Broga

    Matilda: In my youth I admired Ernest Hemingway’s writing. He wasn’t a likeable character. At least to me. He was fond of bullfighting, shooting and fishing. Fairly typical man, I suppose, as so many enjoy slaughter as a past time.

    However, I did respect that he killed himself when he found the life he was forced to lead was not acceptable to him. He shot himself. And why shouldn’t he end his own life if he chose.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  5. Broga Avatar
    Broga

    What is so attractive about humans as a species. We are wrecking the planet’ With our brains and their abilities to overcome everything else we have become a global pest, a disease. We are the ultimate narcissists. Right now, when scientists warn that we are on the tipping point of global disaster we are fighting wars with each other, being destroyed by our lifestyles, and increasingly making areas of the planet impossible to live on.

    There is an increasing number of scientists (e.g. commenting in “New Scientist”) who think it is already too late. Whatever efforts we make we cannot save ourselves. Meanwhile the crazy Trump says he is protected by God.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  6. malcolmjdodd Avatar
    malcolmjdodd

    It is so refreshing to read all of your comments.

    For over 70 years I have been trying to deconstruct religious bullshit; however, depite over 50% of Labour MPs affirming their oath of allegince (including Keir Scrounger), I see no evidence of them dealing the fatal blow to the religious monsters that exist with legal privilege and blight our lives in schools and without.

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  7. Broga Avatar
    Broga

    Malcolm: Thanks for your comments. I think many of the current MPs are not Labour with any feeling. They are Tories at heart. Starmer is so feeble and his going through the motions is so obvious that it is an embarrassment. That the rest of the so called Labour MPs let such a freeloader of such amounts while poor people can’t eat adequately or heat their houses tells you all you need to know about them.

    My current Labour MP would not agree that the royal family should not be getting £500 plus million from our taxes while others shiver and can’t feed their families. She thought they enhanced the reputation of this country. Happily Australia said they didn’t want Charles in time for me to include in my reply. She didn’t reply.

    The tide is turning in our direction. When Republic carried out a survey they found that the people they questioned had no idea of the vast amounts these scroungers we being given. The information came as a surprise and to many a shock.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  8. Broga Avatar
    Broga

    We are now seeing hyper sensitivity from the odious Welby and others about assisted dying. This, we should note, assisted dying in the cause of someone we love and in great suffering. Welby and his cronies have apparently judged many familied as ready to kill their nearest and dearest to get the few quid they happen to possess. I read that the most likely to be saved by the plebs is £2000.

    Meanwhile, Biden, with the support of Starmer, continues to support the Nazi Netanyahu and his Israeli thugs, and land thieves, in bombing civilian houses, hosp[tals and shelters. The sadist Netanyaho seems to entertain himself by “warning” people they must leave where they live. There is no practical reason for this so I assume the suffering and terror must be for entertainment by a sadist,.

    When he is asked to accept a peace, especially by Biden his response is get lost, I will do what I choose and I have no intention of stopping the slaughter of the thousands of women, children, hospital patients.

    If you have seen pictures of young kids, with faces smeared with mud and looking, desperately and in tears, for a parent you need a special kind of indifference. Biden could stop the slaughter with no delay by cutting off Natanyaho’s supply and yet he doesn’t. Netanyaho tells Biden and the USA to sod off I have no intention of stopping. Yet there is great sensitivity about assisted dying and a readiness to prosecute those who give relief to loved ones in agony. Bloody pitiless hypocrites.

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  9. malcolmjdodd Avatar
    malcolmjdodd

    Why is it only Israel (the sole democracy in the Middle East, surrounded by Islamic rogue states intent on its destruction, lobbing a daily barrage of rockets, killing and kidnapping its citizens) that gets such opprobium from Western citizens – it is disgraceful, 100% anti-Semitism, pure and simple.

    I never see or hear of marches and protests about the murderous Islamic dictatorships from Pakistan (capital Islam-is-bad) to Syria to Burkina Faso to Egypt to Afghanistan to Iran to Iraq, all of whom have exterminated (and continue to do so) hundreds of thousands of non-muslims; within Islam, the Shites kill the Sunnis and vice versa, protests about the above attrocities will be called Islamophobia (of which I am a proud member) and likely get you killed, whereas Israel defending itself is fair game, after all, anti-semitism won’t get you lynched by offended Jews.

    If people experienced these disfunctional Islamic pariah states, as I have, and then visited Israel, as I have, I feel certain that would be an end to this vilification of Israel.

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  10. malcolmjdodd Avatar
    malcolmjdodd

    My tiping is gettting worse. disfunctional. attrocities, semitism. Apollogys.

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