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Action Alert

January 2013 The consequence of being uninvolved is to be ruled by godless men.


This monthly release is prepared by Pastor Brian Robertson (PO Box 2367, Bundaberg, 4670) to inform Christian people about issues within our society. Action Alert does not promote any one political party, but encourages its readers to be salt and light by speaking out on some of these matters. The views expressed in Action Alert are those of the author and are not necessarily those of a local church or a denominational organisation. To the extent permissible by law, no church or denomination accepts liability for anything contained in this publication and any use made of it.

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Support The Declaration of Hope Against Euthanasia From time-to-time, various politicians usually on the political Left propose legislation to legalise voluntary euthanasia. At the present time, there is a private members bill before the Senate Restoring Territory Rights (Voluntary Euthanasia Legislation) Bill 2010, introduced soon after the 2010 election by the then Leader of the Australian Greens, Senator Bob Brown, and aimed at overturning the 1997 Federal laws that stopped voluntary euthanasia in the Northern Territory and a government-sponsored bill before the South Australian Upper House Advanced Care Directive Bill 2012, which has already passed through the SA House of Assembly and which, although not overtly aimed at legalising euthanasia, will potentially have that effect. Proposals to legalise euthanasia have been considered and defeated by the South Australian, West Australian, Victorian, and Tasmanian State Parliaments in the past, but the proponents of voluntary euthanasia keep trying in the hope that, if one State or Territory goes ahead and legalises it, others will eventually follow. A significant amount of the supposed support for voluntary euthanasia in the community stems from a misunderstanding of exactly what euthanasia is. Many people are confused about the issue because they think that, under the present laws, patients can be kept alive by medical intervention indefinitely and that suffering can be artificially prolonged. However, turning off a life support system when that is the only thing keeping a patient alive is not euthanasia (and the opportunity to do this already exists). Refusing medication is not euthanasia (and likewise, a patient can do this already). In these cases, a patient (or his / her relatives) can exercise a right to stop (or not begin) medical treatment, and the natural course of his / her medical condition will unfold and lead to death. This is not euthanasia! Euthanasia is a deliberate act to cause a patients death, and regardless of whether a patient has requested that death or not, euthanasia allows someone (usually a medical professional, whose emphasis ought to be on caring for and doing good to his / her patients) to take someone elses life.

Voluntary euthanasia has been legal in Belgium and the Netherlands for several decades, and the research indicates that it has become a means of killing the unwanted without their consent. Recent research in Belgium has shown that 32% of euthanasia deaths performed by physicians in the Flanders region were done without the explicit request or consent of the patients, and 45% of euthanasia deaths performed by nurses in the whole of Belgium were done without request or consent. Even more disturbing was the revelation that only 52.8% of all cases of euthanasia were actually reported as acts of euthanasia; the other 47.2% were simply recorded as deaths by natural causes. The reality is that, once a society authorises its medical professionals to abandon an attitude of caring and doing good to their patients, doing good will be redefined to include the taking of life if, in the opinion of the medical professional, that life is no longer worth living. In Australia, the organisation HOPE: Preventing Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide has an open letter to all Australian parliamentarians (on both the Federal and the State levels). The open letter makes a number of valid points in defence of life and urges all politicians to oppose any legislation that comes before their voting chamber aimed at legalising euthanasia. The open letter declares To legalise euthanasia would enable one citizen to directly and intentionally cause the death of another citizen, or be involved in the process of causing that death. Euthanasia and assisted suicide are not socially acceptable responses to terminal or incurable illnesses and conditions. Euthanasia and assisted suicide pose a threat to the equality of person, by redefining the value of the lives of some people as not worth living. Older Australians are not a problem to be rid of, but a generation to be honoured. Australia must not place the lives of its citizens at risk. Euthanasia is a doorway to abuse (as in Belgium and the Netherlands). All Australians should have access to quality pain control and palliative care if they need it, rather than allowing an easy-fix solution. Legalised euthanasia would weaken the autonomy of patients and reduce their choices about care and symptom management. We all ought to sign this open letter! If you have not already signed it, go the website at http://declare.noeuthanasia.org.au/ and fill in your details. HOPE will send you a confirmatory email to acknowledge your commitment. Politicians may not always be motivated by principles, but they do understand numbers; so the more people who sign this open letter, the clearer the message to our political leaders!

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Who will stand up for me against evildoers?

Who will take his stand for me against those who do wickedness?

Psalm 94:16

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