Opinion: The Assisted Dying Bill won’t pass, religion got in the way, and people in Weston will suffer

by Dan Heley (Editor)

“I am a Christian, I wasn’t born into holding a faith but discovered it later in life when I moved to Weston-super-Mare and became involved in a church in Worle that my best friend attended. It turned out to be a cult but that’s another story all together.”

“I am hugely disappointed that the Assisted Dying Bill has all but failed to pass this time around, with the most ardent opponents of the change in the law being people of faith, including many Christians. Yet few have cited their faith as being at the core of their views.

A recent article in the Daily Mail detailed a letter written by critics of the legislation and named prominent opponents in the House of Lords to the law change including Victoria Prentis, Marvin Rees. Paul Boateng, Sue Gray and Arlene Foster.

Yet no mention was made of their backgrounds and like many people of faith, hold views shaped by their religious convictions.

Victoria Prentis is a practicing Christian who has served as a local churchwarden at St James, Somerton, Marvin Rees worked for Christian social justice charities, Paul Boateng is an active member of the Methodist Church and has served as a lay preacher for many years, Sue Gray is a practising Roman Catholic and Arlene Foster is a member of the Church of Ireland.

Relevant information you would think, for readers to understand the reasoning why those who are staunch critics have come to hold their views.

This is also far from an isolated case.

Time and time again the discourse around assisted dying throughout the debate in the media failed to make the very obvious link that few dare to speak; faith was a driving force behind opposition to the bill.

Now to be clear, I don’t have a problem with that in of itself. If a person with religious conviction wishes to allow their faith to influence their views, it’s for voters to decide if they find that palatable come the next General Election.

My issue, is that across all sides of the political spectrum, politicians in both the House of Commons

and House of Lords failed to be honest about it, instead opting to toss public opinion aside and replace it with fear-mongering rhetoric and disingenuous misinformation dressed up as expert opinion.

Prior to the vote, I attended an open event hosted by Weston MP Dan Aldridge at The Campus, with many in the audience suffering from a host of painful or life-limiting conditions.

Many spoke passionately about the fears they held for their future and their concerns that if the Assisted Dying Bill was to not become law, they were destined for a slow and painful death without the opportunity the bill offered of being empowered to take control of their own destiny, on their own terms.

Since the event, Dan Aldridge MP has talked publicially about the effect the event had on him and how it impacted his view on a subject he had previously not taking under consideration. At least in Weston we are represented by an MP who takes on board the views of voters even if this isn’t the case in other parts of the country.

As a society, we’re not very good at talking about death even though as Benjamin Franklin wrote, it is one of only three sure things in life alongside taxes and change. However, it feels as though one benefit of the assisted dying debate is that this is slowly changing.

It’s also not the end of the debate. I have no doubt that a bill will, in the not too distant future, rear its head again, and when it does, let’s hope politicians will be more honest about how faith has shaped their lives and in turn, their views on the issue.

It’s the very least they owe to those that will now suffer as a result of their decisions.”