Religious attitudes to the elderly and death Flashcards

1
Q

What is sanctity of life?

A

The idea that all life is special

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2
Q

Which religions believe that life is sacred because God created it?

A

Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism

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3
Q

Which religions believe life is special because it is the way we can achieve enlightenment?

A

Buddhism and Hinduism

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4
Q

What do all religions believe about sanctity of life?

A

Life is special, and deserves to be protected and cherished, not given up on.

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5
Q

What is quality of life?

A

A description of how good someone’s life is

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6
Q

What are examples of quality of life?

A
  • how comfortable they feel
  • how easy it is for them to live through each day,
  • how much they have in terms of money and possessions
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7
Q

What are Buddhist attitudes to the elderly?

A
  • We may carry our mothers on one shoulder, and our fathers on the other, and look after them for a hundred years… we weill still be in debt to them
  • Old people are a demonstration of anicca, so we learn from them
  • May all beings be happy (traditional Buddhist blessing)
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8
Q

What are Christian attitudes to the elderly?

A
  • Honour your father and mother (Ten Commandments)
  • Listen to your father who gave you life and do not hate your mother when she is old (Proverbs)
  • You shall rise up before the grey headed, and honour the aged (Leviticus)
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9
Q

What are Hindu attitudes to the elderly?

A
  • Whoever honours his father, honours the Creator himself. Whoever honours their mother, honours the earth itself (Mahabharata)
  • The whole purpose of human existence is to benefit other people through one’s life, possessions, thoughts and words (Bhagavata Purana)
  • Let your mother be a god to you. Let your father be a god to you (Taittiriya Upanishad)
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10
Q

What are Jewish attitudes to the elderly?

A
  • Honour your father and mother (Ten Commandments)
  • Do not cast me off in old age, when my strength fails me (Psalms)
  • See that they [parents] eat and drink, and take them where they want to go (Talmud)
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11
Q

What are Muslim attitudes to the elderly?

A
  • Your Lord orders that you… be kind to parents (Qur’an)
  • May his nose be rubbed in the dirt who found his parents approaching old age [and he] did not look after them (Hadith)
  • Your Lord has commanded that … you be kind to your parents. You should not even say ‘Uff!’ or criticise them … say ‘Lord bless them, they nurtured, cherished an sustained me in childhood’ (Qur’an)
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12
Q

What are Sikh attitudes to the elderly?

A
  • It is the greatest sin to quarrel with parents who have given you birth and brought you up (Adi Granth)
  • When a man acts in an unkind way towards his parents, his religious actions are worthless
  • Countless wrongs does the son, his mother forgives and remembers none (Guru Granth Sahib)
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13
Q

What are hospices?

A

Homes for the dying

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14
Q

Which religion set up hospices?

A

Christians

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15
Q

What are the aims of hospices?

A
  1. relieve physical symptoms of illness
  2. care for emotional and spiritual well-being of the patient
  3. support the families of patients
  4. educate others about caring for the dying and to work out new, better ways to care for them
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16
Q

What is euthanasia?

A

‘Mercy killing’, helping someone to die who is suffering from a terminal illness, or whose quality of life is less than they can bear, usually because of a degenerative diesease

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17
Q

What is active euthanasia?

A

When the dying person is killed to put them out of their suffering. What happens ends their life- their illness does not kill them

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18
Q

What is passive euthanasia?

A

When the dying person is allowed to die through taking away the medical support they have - the illness is allowed to kill them

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19
Q

Is euthanasia legal in Britain?

A

No, it can be seen as breaking the Suicide Act 1961, which forbids anyone from helping someone else to die and carries a fouteen year jail sentence. It can also be viewed as manslaughter or murder

20
Q

What do doctors do that may be classed as euthanasia?

A
  • switch off life-support machines when patients have no brain activity
  • administer drugs to ease pain, which also shorten their life
21
Q

Why is switching off the life support machine not seen as euthanasia?

A

It is a recognition that medical treatment has failed - the patient is in effect already dead

22
Q

What do Buddhists ​believe about death and euthanasia?

A

Buddhists believe all life is special. It deserves protection. Death is inevitable - just part of the journey. It is wrong to speed up that death through, because everyone has karma to work through, and the suffering leading up to death may be part of that karma

23
Q

What are the Buddhist teachings about death and euthanasia?

A
  • I will abstain from taking life (the First Precept)
  • At the hour of death, a king and a beggar are equal because no amount of wealth or relatives can affect or prevent death (Lama Zopa Rinpoche)
  • A primary guiding principle in Buddhism is the relief of suffering
24
Q

What did the Dalai Lama say abou euthanasia and death?

A

‘In the event a person is definitely going to die … is either in great pain or has virtually become a vegetable, and prolonging his existence is only going to cause … suffering for the others, the termination of his life may be permitted according to Mahayana Buddhist ethics’

25
Q

Do Buddhists support euthanasia or hospices?

A
  • not support euthanasia as life should be protected and suffering is part of our karma
  • make death as comfortable as possible, so hospices are suported as it helps people have a ‘good death’
  • euthanasia is usually done out of compassion, and with the wishes of the person who dies, so it is a ‘good death’
26
Q

What do Christians ​believe about death and euthanasia?

A

Life is sacred because it is created by God. We should protect life as much as possible. Although Christians talk about being with God after death, there is no wish to hasten death.

27
Q

What are the Christian teachings about death and euthanasia?

A
  • God created life in his own image (Genesis)
  • You shall not kill (Ten Commandments)
  • I, your God, give life, and I take it away (Old Testament)
  • It is the teaching of the Catholic Church that life be respected from conception until natural death
  • Doctors do not have an overriding obligation to prolong life by all available means (Church of England)
28
Q

Do Christians support euthanasia?

A

Attitudes are diverse, but most do not agree to euthanasia. The Roman Catholic Church especially see is as failure of systems available, even murder. The COE accepts passive euthanasia, but not active. The Dutch Protestant Church believes that God would not wish for their suffering to continue.

29
Q

What do Hindus believe about death and euthanasia?

A

Hindus believe that our atman (soul) lives through many lifetimes, and that each life is shaped by the words, actions and thoughts of the previous ones. This means any suffering in this life is intended so that bad karma from previous lifetimes can be worked through. Cutting short this life by euthanasia puts off that task, so it is wrong

30
Q

What are the Hindu teachings about death and euthanasia?

A
  • Ahimsa (non-harming) is a basic principle of Hinduism
  • Compassion (loving kindness) and respect (including for all life) are other key principles of Hinduism
  • The result of virtuous action is pure joy, actions done from emotion bring pain and suffering (Baghavad Gita)
  • The one who tries to escape from the trials of this life by taking their own life will suffer even more in the next life (Yajur Veda)
31
Q

Do Hindus support euthanasia?

A

It would be accepted that they refuse food or medicine, but wrong for them to be euthanised. Active euthanasia can be seen as trying to escape problems, so it is wrong. Also, if the person trying to help them is doing so as they cannot cope with their emotions, it is wrong. Hindus look after and care for, until the time of their natural death.

32
Q

What do Muslims believe about death and euthanasia?

A

In Islam, any form of self-harm or self-killing is wrong.Only Allah decides when a person should die, so interference with Allah’s plan is wrong

33
Q

What are the Islamic teachings about death and euthanasia?

A
  • Neither kill nor destroy yourself (Qur’an)
  • No one can die except by Allah’s leave, that is a decree with a fixed term (Qur’an)
  • Whoever kills a man … it shall be as if he had killed all mankind (Qur’an)
  • Do not take life - which Allah had made sacred - except for a just cause (Qur’an)
  • Euthanasia is zulm - a wrong doing against Allah (Shari’ah law)
34
Q

Do Muslims support euthanasia?

A

Life is sacred, made by Allah. It will end when Allah decides, not the person or family or doctor. No one knows the plans of Allah (known as al-Qadr). No one should make that decision to end life, but it does not mean that a person can’t refuse the medicine keeping them alive. In some cases, passive euthanasia would be accepted.

35
Q

What do Jews believe about death and euthanasia?

A

Life is sacred, death should be a calm experience if possible. Mass murder during the Holocaust has influenced the attitudes to unnatural death.

36
Q

What are the Jewish teachings about death and euthanasia?

A
  • You shall not kill (Exodus)
  • G-d gives life, G-d takes away life (Psalms)
  • For everything there is a reason, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck up what has been planted (Ecclesiastes)
  • If there is anything which causes a hindrance to the departure of the soul, then it is permissible to remove it (Rabbi Moses Isserles)
  • One who is in a dying condition is regarded as a living person in all respects (Talmud)
37
Q

Do Jews support euthanasia?

A

The latter would be acceptable so the person can have a ‘good death’. G-d would not want us to suffer. It is important to protect and support life, but is wrong to end their life through active euthanasia, because that is G-d’s role. Euthanasia can at times be seen as throwing away life.

38
Q

What do Sikhs believe about death and euthanasia?

A

Life is sacred and all souls are on journey through many lifetimes. Liberation from rebirth is the eventual goal. Suffering is part of the karma being worked through from a previous lifetime.

39
Q

What are the Sikh teachings about death and euthanasia?

A
  • God sends us and we take birth. God calls us back and we die (Guru Granth Sahib)
  • A sign of divine worship is the service (sewa) of others (Adi Granth)
  • The sign of a good person is that they always seek the welfare of others
  • All life is sacred and should be respected (Guru Granth Sahib)
40
Q

Do Sikhs support euthanasia?

A

No place for mercy killing in Sikhism. Active euthanasia ise seen as wrong. Suffering the person experiences is from the karma of previous lifetimes, and has to be worked through. Sikhs care for the dying rather than speeding up their death, until God decides they should die

41
Q

What form of life after death do Buddhists believe in?

A

Rebirth

42
Q

What form of life after death do Christians believe in?

A

Resurrection

43
Q

What form of life after death do Hindus believe in?

A

Reincarnation

44
Q

What form of life after death do Muslims believe in?

A

Resurrection

45
Q

What form of life after death do Jews believe in?

A

Jews focus on this life rather than the next. Some teachings mention a heavenly place

46
Q

What form of life after death do Sikhs believe in?

A

Reincarnation

47
Q

What is death?

A

When there is no heartbeat, no breathing, no organ function and no brain stem activity