Religious leaders are “out of step with their flocks” in their opposition to assisted dying, according to a leading rabbi who has been appointed chair of the campaign group Dignity in Dying.
“The religious hierarchy is set against assisted dying, but the religious membership is not,” said Jonathan Romain, who leads Maidenhead synagogue in Berkshire.
Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury; Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Westminster, and Ephraim Mirvis, the chief rabbi, oppose a change in the law to allow terminally ill people the option of an assisted death.
“All three leaders are increasingly isolated on the issue and out of step with their flocks,” said Romain. A 2019 Populus poll, commissioned by Dignity in Dying, found that 80% of religious people – and 84% of the general public – supported a change in the law.
“The fact that a religious figure is now chair [of Dignity in Dying] is a strong message that there is no contradiction between having a faith and being in favour of the right to an assisted death,” he said.
“It seems to me to be very much in line with religious ideals of compassion and care.”
As a minister of religion, he said he had seen people in “great pain and suffering” at the end of their lives in hospitals and hospices.
“At first I accepted it. And then there came a tipping point where I thought: this cannot be right. The doctors and nurses try their hardest to alleviate pain, but even they will say there are certain people who they cannot help.
“If someone is terminally ill, mentally competent and wants to end their life, rather than carry on in great pain, then in whose interest are we forcing them to stay alive? Now, of course, many people will want to carry on to their last breath and that’s fine. But for people who’ve got awful conditions and who have less than six months to live and are suffering, then it’s the right thing to give them that option.”
Current law prohibits assisted dying, with a maximum 14-year jail sentence in England and Wales. About 50 Britons a year sought an assisted death in Switzerland pre-pandemic, and Dignity in Dying estimates that up to 650 terminally ill people a year take their own lives.
This year, the House of Commons’ health and social care select committee launched an inquiry into assisted dying, with a report expected to be published later this year.
Ten US states permit assisted dying, along with countries that include Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Switzerland, Spain, Austria, the Netherlands and Belgium. Portugal passed legislation in May, and France could change its laws later this year.
“It would not be a leap in the dark for us – there is an extraordinary amount of data and experience out there,” said Romain. “The fear of the vulnerable old lady whose family wants to get hold of her money is just not borne out by reality.”
Attitudes were changing rapidly, he said. “There’s a real sense of momentum, and I’m pretty sure there will be a change of law in the near future.”
Sarah Wootton, the chief executive of Dignity in Dying, said Romain’s appointment “serves to puncture the myth that religious leaders and their flocks oppose assisted dying. Poll after poll demonstrates that the vast majority of people of faith recognise the urgent case for law change, as does the public at large.
“The fear-mongering of a vocal minority will ultimately be exposed as just that. Common sense and compassion will win out.”
