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On Wednesday, 17 November 2021, the Anscombe Centre co-organised a discussion panel for the University of London’s ‘Inter-Faith Week’ on the subject of ‘Assisted Dying: eugenics, euthanasia and medicine’.

The event considered the place of euthanasia in the context of the history of eugenics. It was not only in Nazi Germany but also in England and the United States that euthanasia was promoted for the same reasons as eugenics, the characterising of some citizens as a burden on the state. The current debate over euthanasia and assisted suicide (EAS) is framed very differently but similar concerns about equality and vulnerability remain.

This is not only a faith issue but it is one that has had a profound effect on religious minorities in the past. The hope of participants is that interfaith discussion can help illuminate the debate over “assisted dying” and in this way contribute to the common good of society.

Four presentations were given by:
• Prof. David Albert Jones is Director of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre. He also is Professor of Bioethics at St Mary’s University, Twickenham. His DPhil from Oxford was on the theology of death and dying. He is co-editor, with Prof Chris Gastmans and Dr Calum MacKellar, of Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide: Lessons from Belgium (Cambridge University Press, 2017). The Anscombe Centre has recently launched a series of briefing papers on euthanasia and assisted suicide.
• Rabbi Dr Moshe Freedman is Rabbi, New West End Synagogue, London and Jewish Chaplain to the Canary Wharf Multifaith Chaplaincy. He is also a member of the Moral and Ethical Advisory Group (MEAG), which provides independent advice to the UK government on moral, ethical and faith considerations on health and social care related issues. He has a PhD in medical physics and has recently published, with Dr Aryeh Greenberg, a Rapid Response to a BMJ article on religious views on assisted dying.
• Mohamed Omer MBE is Chair of Redbridge Faith Forum. He is Board Member for External Affairs at Gardens of Peace, the largest dedicated Muslim Cemetery in the United Kingdom. He is also a member of the Moral and Ethical Advisory Group (MEAG).
• Prof. Daniel Sulmasy is Director of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Senior Research Scholar at the Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics and Andre Hellegers Professor of Biomedical Ethics, with co-appointments in the Departments of Philosophy and Medicine at Georgetown. He has written extensively on end of life ethics and is co-editor, with Dr Sheldon Rubenfeld, of Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia Before, During, and After the Holocaust (Rowman and Littlefield, 2021).

After an audience Q&A, the meeting was concluded by the Rev. Dr Philip Miller, who is Senior Catholic Chaplain for the universities in the Archdiocese of Westminster. He did his own university studies in Natural Sciences at Cambridge, and then completed a PhD in radio-astronomy at the Cavendish Laboratory. As well as his new post as Senior Chaplain, he has a number of other responsibilities in Westminster Diocese, including sitting on the Sick & Retired Priests’ Committee, and being Co-ordinator of the Ethnic Chaplains.

(N.B. All speakers were speaking in a personal capacity, and from a religious perspective but not as representatives of any institutions or organisations to which they are affiliated.)

This event was co-sponsored by the Anscombe Centre with the University Jewish Chaplaincy and Catholic Chaplaincy for London’s Universities at Newman House.

Ahead of the inter-faith discussion, the Anscombe Bioethics Centre published the Position Paper of the Abrahamic Monotheistic Religions on Matters Concerning the End of Life produced by the Pontifical Academy for Life and signed by Christian, Muslim, and Jewish scholars and leaders in 2019, as part of our series of briefing papers on euthanasia and assisted suicide (EAS): https://bit.ly/ABC-EAS-PAV

The papers in our EAS series clarify the issues at stake in the social, political, and medical discussion, examining the definitions concerning, and practical consequences of legalising physician involvement in assisting a patient to end their own life, or directly causing their death. You can read the full briefing paper series on its dedicated page on our website, here: https://www.bioethics.org.uk/detail/euthanasia_and_assisted_suicide_papers/default