DUP backs Church of Ireland's stance against assisted suicide

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has backed the leader of the Church of Ireland, Archbishop of Armagh, Richard Clarke, after he expressed concern over Lord Carey's support for assisted suicide in an article for the Belfast Newsletter.

Archbishop Clarke, whose wife died of cancer, said it was "perplexing" that the "fundamental Christian tenet" that life is "not our property to do with as we choose,"  had "eluded" Lord Carey.

He said: "If life is simply a personal commodity...then life is disposable, entirely at the will of the individual 'possessor'. This is clearly not the Christian perspective and, even for the non-believer, it is not an automatic understanding of the significance of life."

DUP Peer, Lord Morrow, said that many people would be relieved that the leader had "spoken so clearly" on the issue, highlighting that the majority of the public in Northern Ireland do not support a change in the law.

He added that Archbishop Clarke  "is mindful, as are we all, of the sensitivities involved and that every case involves an individual and their family. The vast majority of people in Northern Ireland believe in the value of human life and we should measure our society on how we treat the most vulnerable in it, not by installing criteria to judge when a life becomes worthless.”

Read more (Belfast News Letter) >

Read Archbishop Clarke's full piece here >