Catholic Nursing Home Sued for Refusing to Kill Patients in Euthanasia

International   |   Wesley Smith   |   Jul 5, 2016   |   11:08AM   |   Brussels, Belgium

Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states:

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Unless one operates a Catholic nursing home in Belgium, apparently.

Even though euthanasia clearly infringes on the religious beliefs of the Catholic Church, a Catholic nursing home was ordered to pay civil damages in Belgium for refusing to participate in an euthanasia killing. From the Christianity Today story:

A Catholic nursing home in Belgium is reported to have fallen foul of the country’s courts after refusing to permit a resident to access euthanasia.

The incident happened in 2011 when Huize Sint-Augustinus home in Diest refused to allow an elderly woman’s doctor access to see her – when it was thought she was about to be given a lethal injection. The home has been ordered to pay €6,000 (approx $6,600 or £5,000) in damaged to the family of the woman.

The civil court in Louvain ruled that “the nursing home did not have the right to refuse euthanasia on the grounds of conscientious objection.”

Forced to be complicit in homicide or pay damages! The culture of death brooks no dissent.

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Secularists these days generally give a fig about religious freedom, reducing it to a mere freedom of worship (if that). They are no civil libertarians.

Any society that violates religious liberty without a compelling reason–such as say, stopping child sacrifice–is a violator of human rights as defined by the United Nations.

Belgium can now be added to that list.

LifeNews.com Note: Wesley J. Smith, J.D., is a special consultant to the Center for Bioethics and Culture and a bioethics attorney who blogs at Human Exeptionalism.

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