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Euthanasia  Monday, July 18, 2011 1:00 AM Comments (63)  A
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I was a hospice volunteer for 3 years; I’m now a volunteer first
responder on an ambulance crew. I’m also an atheist. I’ve seen
my share of suffering and dying in the last 30 years. There is
an intrinsic value to life. We see it embedded in the lives of
the people around us we love and care for. And you do not need
to believe in God to believe in life. Terminal illnesses, from
this perspective, are just accidents of the laws of chemistry.
They happen because the laws of biochemistry allow them to
happen. There is no ‘purpose’ in suffering, no joy, nothing of
real value in this accidental event. So the idea of ‘sacrificial
suffering’ in this context (as opposed, say, to those of a
soldier, police officer or fire fighter who dies for a belief)
has no real value. Why die for cancer? Catholic ‘culture’ is not
as alien as you think.