Who should have the last word on assisted dying in a secular Britain?

‘Insisting that God mandates particular political and moral views, and so makes them unchallengeable, is to close off political debate.’ Illustration: Dominic McKenzie/The Observer

For many years, I used to give an annual lecture to theology students training to be Anglican priests at Trinity College, Bristol, on “Why I am an atheist”. One perennial response from the students was that “without belief in God, atheists can simply pick and choose which values to accept and which to reject”.

To which I would reply: “Yes, that’s true, though we don’t pick and choose values simply as individuals, or as we might pick and choose a shirt or a car, but rather as part of communities, societies, cultures, histories and traditions, and in accordance with our foundational beliefs.” But, I would add, “you as believers have to pick and choose your values, too”.