Revelation and Euthanasia

A bit of a long read. The paper that I recently prepared on the insights of the final book of the Bible (Revelation or the Apocalypse) applied to the matter of euthanasia. I have been encouraged to share this by my instructor. There are some technical parts here as it is an academic paper but I hope the main insights come through.

— Fr. Greg

Selected excerpts:

Two years ago Canada legalized “medically assisted death”. This is properly “active euthanasia” at the request and consent of a person who is faced with the inevitability of death “in the foreseeable” future. This legislation explicitly sees persons in post-Enlightenment terms, that is, as autonomous and rational individuals whose freedom choice must be respected. The state is obliged to respond by this person’s request by providing this person with a lethal injection.

The legislation and its application guidelines do not reference mediating institutions. The State’s view of humanity is efficient, technical, without compassion or understanding. It has claimed authority over the liminality of death.

This [State] complex itself is collective and more than collective. It cloaks itself in the “ideological superstructure” of modernity. But the apocalyptic imagination allows this to be seen through for what it is, the state killing its citizens.