I was saddened to hear of the death of Esther Rantzen recently. As well as being a significant TV personality throughout my childhood, Esther Rantzen built a formidable reputation as a campaigner. In later years her campaigning passion was particularly linked to the assisted dying cause.
Recently, the attempt to ass an assisted dying act that she had pressed for fell in the House of Commons. I would be cautious about making this a cause for celebration. Yes there is joy and relief at the bill failing. However, there are two things that should give us pause for thought. The first is that I’ve persistently argued that the trajectory is towards legislation that will legalise it at the same time as we see increasing liberalisation of abortion laws. The second is that for campaigners like Rantzen, the defeat was not merely a political one but from their perspective a tragedy. They see it as prolonging their suffering. Notice that this is not in the abstract. Rantzen campaigned because she personally was suffering.
And this is what strikes me. I’ve recently written about how there is a place for the church nationally and individual Christians speaking up on big issues like assisted dying. At the same time, the local church needs to keep its focus on the pastoral and evangelistic aspect. This is not a cop out for churches. Rather it is absolutely crucial that they do this. I would argue that this is true for other ethical issues too, particularly concerning abortion, gender and sexuality.
The pastoral dynamic is often the forgotten element. The result is that we respond to distressing, real life stories by arguing about ethics. We’ve missed the personal element. And this is highly unlikely to be persuasive. The campaigns for abortion and euthanasia have been developed at the grass roots and based on personal life experience. It’s not speeches and petitions that will persuade those who are experiencing terminal suffering or their relatives and friends. Rather, it will be the experience of having Christians, motivated by compassion and Biblical truth, seeking to be there for them in their darkest hour and offer them a better story and sure and certain hope.
