News

General Assembly Restates Assisted Dying Opposition

Monday May 19 2025

John Williams addresses the General Assembly

The Church of Scotland General Assembly has narrowly reaffirmed the Church’s opposition to assisted dying.

A report on assisted dying had recommended a change in the Church’s position on the issue, which would have affirmed the diversity of theological views in the church ‘and the integrity with which they are held’.

However, following a long and emotional debate, the Assembly voted by 149 to 145 for a countermotion from the Rev Alistair Cook, which acknowledged the diversity of views but reaffirmed the Church’s historical opposition.

The rest of the working group’s deliverance passed with some amendments. It affirms that every human is made in the image of God, calls for investment in palliative care while warning that the legalising of assisted dying has led to a decrease in palliative care spending elsewhere in the world, says that robust safeguards must be in place to protect the disabled and health care workers if assisted dying is legalised, and ‘recognis(es) the value of open discussion around death and dying’.

During the debate the Assembly was addressed by John Williams, who has managed the gathering’s AV systems for over 50 years. He has been on dialysis for seven years, and also has terminal cancer.

He said: “I find the report absolutely excellent. I agree 100 per cent with the conclusions it comes to.”

However, he criticised the assisted dying legislation going through the Scottish Parliament as ‘a bad bill’ and ‘not the way’; and described palliative care funding in Scotland as ‘a national disgrace’.

He also asked the commissioners whether they would be willing to sit and listen to a terminally ill person who wanted to talk, and called for pastoral care training for everyone.

The working group convener, the Rev Dr John Ferguson, told the Assembly that it had become clear to them that ‘there is no consensus on this matter within the Church’. He added: “We believe that if this deliverance is passed, then the Church will have moved on from a binary position on assisted dying to adopting a realistic honest and loving position, which it can hold with integrity. While some may take the view that accepting this deliverance will place the Church in a position of neutrality, we would disagree.”

However the Rev Alistair Cook, who moved the countermotion, said he had been advised by a Christian lawyer: “You cannot allow the principle. Once the door is open it cannot easily be shut, and the safeguards cannot bear the weight put upon them.”

Earlier, the Assembly agreed a strong statement condemning the resumption of the war in Gaza, and instructing the Assembly Trustees to press the UK government to ‘exert all efforts towards the upholding of international humanitarian law, the establishment of a ceasefire, the lifting of the blockade on food and humanitarian aid, and the release of remaining hostages’ and to stop granting export licences of weapons to Israel.

The convener of the Assembly Trustees, the Rev David Cameron, said: “The all-out war waged by the government of Israel on the people of Gaza continues… deaths now totalling more than 52,000 with repeated targeting of hospitals and aid workers. The few hospitals still functioning are overwhelmed.

“Moreover 10 weeks into the enforced blockade of food, the levels of malnutrition have reached famine proportions. For months we have seen the weaponising of hunger in the war, resulting now in deliberate starvation…

“The churches of the world cannot remain silent in the face of such appalling inhumanity… together with our partners… we have asserted the sanctity of human life the dignity of all people and the equal right of all to live in peace.”

The Assembly was addressed by the Most Rev Hosam Elias Naoum, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, who gave thanks for the partnerships between the Protestant churches in Jerusalem. “Since 1841 we have worked together through ecumenical partners very diligently in order to keep the Christian presence in that very important part of the world,” he said. “Jerusalem is the birthplace of our faith.”

Introducing the report of the Assembly Trustees, convener the Rev David Cameron said that the Assembly was ‘gathered at a crucial moment in the life of the Church of Scotland’, with the urgency of the Church’s financial situation demanding ‘even more difficult decisions’ than the ones that have already been taken in recent years.

He acknowledged the grief caused by changes within the church, which he said must be acknowledged, but that the Trustees ‘are working to enable a Church that is outward-focused and better equipped for tomorrow’.

View by category

View by date

Current issue

News

General Assembly Restates Assisted Dying Opposition

Related Stories

Assembly Week 'Challenging and Inspiring'

Praise for Military Chaplains

Life and Work to Cease Publication

Comments

Add a reply