Duc in Altum

As noted on Blogs for Terri from Editor & Publisher, according to a recent Gallup poll, three-fourths of Americans support euthanasia. This is a 6% increase form 2004. Although I have some difficulty with the question as it was posed,

When a person has a disease that cannot be cured, do you think doctors should be allowed by law to end the patient's life by some painless means if the patient and his family request it?

the overall gist of the question is somewhat clear. With a 75% approval, it is not surprising that majorities of demographic groups who would be considered opponents of euthanasia actually supported it: Evangelicals (61%), Weekly Churchgoers (51%), and self-described conservatives (63%).

I am not actually surprised at these numbers. During the last weeks of Terri Schiavo's life it was clear that there was a lack of interest in defending the life of Ms. Schiavo. The euthanasia movement has slowly made inroads into the legal, social, and religious areas over the past decades such that many people do not consider euthanasia (especially when it is not termed as such) to be morally wrong. Many Christians simply do not see a problem with directly ending the life of a person in order to eliminate that person's (and often the caregivers') pain.

Dare I say that for some Christians there is even a theological mindset that makes euthanasia quite acceptable. For those who believe that salvation is simply a one-time event which cannot "be lost", there is an understanding that it is okay to help this person destined for Heaven by speeding the person's journey with a quicker death. Even for some Christians, the lack of a sufficient theological understanding of suffering lends to the acceptance of the mentality that suffering is to be avoided at all costs, even the cost of a person's life. The depth of such thinking might help to explain the other disturbing percentage that indicated that a full 59% of respondents would be willing to take their own lives to eliminate severe pain. It would seem, as Blogs for Terri notes, that those who are willing to take their own lives are more likely to be willing to take the life of someone else.