Abortion and euthanasia
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As times and societies change, our religious leaders and clerics face new and contemporary issues, which must be responded to continually. Two such issues are abortion and euthanasia. Although the Christian and Islamic positions on these debates are similar, their rulings slightly differ. The definition of abortion is "the termination of a pregnancy by removal of the contents of the uterus before the embryo or foetus has developed". Euthanasia is defined as "the act of ending one's life in order to relieve incurable suffering".
The Christian response to euthanasia has officially remained unified. Most Christians insist that any intentional, active termination of life rejects the truth affirmed in the Catholic document 'Evangelium Vitae' (1995), that "God alone has sovereignty over life and death". Such acts of killing, whether "merciful" or not, unacceptably dispose of God's gift of life and contradict the sixth commandment. Further, both Catholic and Protestant leaders have recognized that legalized active measures to end life will not only condone individual acts that are sinful, but will also destroy the patient's ability to trust their own medical and emotional support network.
Statistics show that for every five babies born in Australia, two are aborted...