Two of Canada’s most prominent Christian churches are moving to embrace physician-assisted suicide, raising significant questions about the intersection of faith and end-of-life decisions.
The United Church, the largest Protestant denomination in Canada, has a congregation in British Columbia that is actively advertising a seminar designed to guide people on how to access physician-assisted suicide.
Meanwhile, the Anglican Church of Canada is developing a formal religious liturgy specifically for individuals who choose to end their lives with a doctor’s assistance. The liturgy under development includes, in the church’s own words, “prayers to be read immediately before the fatal drugs are administered, as well as prayers after the patient’s death.”
The moves by both denominations signal a broader shift in how some mainline Canadian churches are responding to the country’s legal framework around medically assisted dying.
