DIGNITY CLINICS

Keir Starmer's announcement today does not go far enough.

Assisted suicide still remains a criminal offence with the danger of prosecution lurking to deter and haunt loved ones. The consideration of financial gain excludes every potential benefactor of a will - that would normally encompass all loved ones. Additionally, the criteria for suffering would not have included the tragedy of Daniel James's situation.

However, all of these matters play around the foothills of the Everestian challenge society faces in having to tackle the issue that lies ahead.

Nanotechnology according to Ray Kurzweil will make us 'immortal' in twenty years. Whether this is an inflated claim or not, the fact is we are living longer, with hopes that our longevity will only improve. The problems of an overpopulated planet will only increase and if scientific advances hold the promise of our regeneration then the issue of our organised termination will become essential.

This is no surprise to me as I predicted the same over 15 years ago.

Put clearly, the planet will not allow for our immortality, so if the gift of a healthy passage in this world becomes commonplace, governments will have to decide how many years a person can sojourn here.

Then at the required age of 75, 105, 135 whatever, people will have to plan their chosen and manner of exiting this life.

Meanwhile, we have intervened comprehensively in the natural process from birth to death already and are now petitioned to do so more thoroughly around death itself, particularly for those who are infirm or suffering a terminal or unchangeable state of acute physical or mental trauma.

At the moment we have to suffer the indignity of a cruel and humiliating degeneration into infirmity and incapacity in old age or illness and see our loved ones tortured in their grief at our demise. We show much greater compassion and consideration in relation to animals and their owners in such a situation, but not to our own.

This final taboo must be broken and we must come of age and take responsibility for the manner of our dying.

Society must facilitate the provision of a variety of clinics that offer an access to death in an aesthetic and spiritually comforting way for the person dying and their loved ones.

The Christian moralists who keep the keys to death close to their chests peddle a 'God of the gaps' theology. As the gaps grow narrower they claim that we can't interfere with the time of our death. They have conceded intervention in all other areas but not this last holy place. There is no logic or rationale to justify this approach, only the conservatism that regards all development as suspect.

In contrast, let me proclaim the resurrection belief that this world is just the beginning and that death provides a door way to the next experience of life.

As God has required us to be wise stewards of creation so we must proceed now to venture into the mystery of this interface between worlds and make the crossing one filled with hope, joy and dignity.

The medical profession also act as guards to the gates, relying upon their interpretation of the Hippocratic oath. In truth they practice an undisclosed form of euthanasia in their administration of morphine already. However, they have no right to usurp our own right to choose to die.

The Nanny State too polices the gates, denying the public access to the necessary drugs for a pain free and dignified end. This intrusion of government into our personal lives may seem benign, but not when you witness the grotesque degradation a loved one has to suffer through age or illness into death. What right have politicians to torture us in this way?

We are not babes in arms nor infants and should not shirk the challenge of a mature engagement with the immense matter of death.

Allow us to find a way of happily saying our goodbyes and then lying on a bed, in a boat, on a rollercoaster, in a bath, listening to a symphony, on a mountain top, at home, in a dignity clinic - wherever, drinking the anti-emetic and then the elixir of life (Sodium Pentobarbital) and moving on happily and peacefully to the paradise beyond and the adventures that lie ahead.

RELIGIOUS HOCUS POCUS?

The Daily Telegraph reports it to be 'one of the most important events for British Roman Catholics since the visit of Pope John Paul'. The Church of England are involved too with a viewing at York Minster.

This event of great significance centres around the dismemberment of a woman, Therese, and the gathering of the 'faithful' to worship her thigh and foot bones.

Any wonder that most view religion as hocus pocus, humbug and superstition. It indeed may prove to be a 'most important event'; putting another nail in the coffin of religious adherence in this country.

Foot and thigh worship contrast with the Gospel message in which we remember, seek to exemplify and share in the resurrection life of Jesus Christ, who was careful to leave no bones, no relics and no personal fragments for material obsession and cult adoration.

AMERICA'S INHUMANITY?

How can we read of the gruesome act of clinical torture of Romell Broom in Ohio lasting two hours and not question America's tolerance of the death penalty.

Combine this with the Allies orchestration of Iraqi justice in which the heads of the hanged are at times severed from their bodies before nauseous journalists and our sense of moral purity is under scrutiny.

We must resolve these issues which compromise our more noble aims.

GOD SAVE US FROM 'BACK TO CHURCH SUNDAY'

An advertising campaign for 'Back to Church Sunday' has begun.

But people have no interest in church attendance anymore. It is part of yesterday's world, a bygone culture, a redundant resource.

The church comunities which still thrive represent rarified practices or origins, but by and large, churches are empty and their clerics in crisis.

The Open Episcopal Church has pioneered a radical response to this taking worship, the sacraments and the Gospel out in to the community and our ministry is sought after and appreciated. Unless the main denominations are willing to learn from our experiences, their future is bleak.