Religion & Bioethics

Despite broadly similar views about the overall place of science in America, there are striking differences between the public and scientists’ views on a host of science-related issues.

Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old woman with terminal brain cancer, has gone public with her plans to take her own life. Most Americans say there are circumstances in which a patient should be allowed to die, but the public is split on laws about doctor-assisted suicide.

In recent years, legislatures and courts, religious leaders and scientists, citizens and patient advocates have all weighed in on end-of-life issues ranging from whether the terminally ill should have the right to take their own lives to how much treatment and sustenance those in the last stages of life should receive.

Religious leaders, scholars and ethicists from 16 major American religious groups explain how their faith traditions’ teachings address physician-assisted suicide, euthanasia and other end-of-life questions.

Regardless of their views about the legality of abortion, most Americans think that having an abortion is a moral issue. By contrast, the public is much less likely to see other issues involving human embryos – such as stem cell research or in vitro fertilization – as a matter of morality.

Blacks and Hispanics (46% each) are somewhat more inclined than whites (34%) to say they would want treatments to dramatically extend life.

No religious group in the United States has released an official statement on radical life extension. However, here are brief summaries of how some clergy, bioethicists and other scholars from 18 major American religious groups say their traditions might approach this evolving issue.

The prospect of dying has always fascinated, haunted and, ultimately, defined human beings. From the beginnings of civilization, people have contemplated their own mortality – and considered the possibility of immortality.

A majority of Americans say it is important to conduct stem-cell research.