“Why Euthanasia Is Wrong — From A Secular Viewpoint”

By BRIAN CLOWES

(Editor’s Note: Brian Clowes has been director of research and training at Human Life International since 1995. For an electronic copy of chapter 23 of The Facts of Life, “Euthanasia,” e-mail him at bclowes@hli.org.)

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Conclusion

We have seen that there are several reasons why physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia are wrong — from a secular viewpoint. To begin with, a very high percentage of people recover from allegedly permanent comatose states. Euthanasia also sets a terrible example for younger people, is a lazy and shortsighted way of dealing with problems, and is the greatest example of succumbing to ultimate despair.
However, perhaps the most important reason that self-murder is wrong from a practical standpoint is that it degrades the human “system” we refer to as society in grave and unpredictable ways by undermining the very meaning of what it means to care for each other.
“Entropy” is the measure of the degree of disorder of systems. And all systems — from the smallest to the largest, and from the simplest to the most complex — tend to accumulate entropy, unless positive steps are taken to prevent this process. This immutable principle applies equally to living and nonliving systems.
Every type of human or mechanical system requires effort in order to maintain it in an ordered state. Every type of system, if it is neglected, will begin to decay and disintegrate. There are absolutely no exceptions to this rule (if you think there are, try to think of one):
A lawn will sprout weeds unless the gardener remains vigilant. Eventually, if it is not cared for, the lawn will return to its original riotous, biologically diverse, and disordered state.
A pickup truck will rust, detune, and accumulate beer cans unless the driver has pride of ownership. Eventually, if it is not maintained, it will fall apart and will be hauled to a junkyard.
We have read a lot lately about our country’s deteriorating infrastructure. Many of our roads, bridges, and water and sewer systems are falling apart because not enough maintenance money is allocated to them.
Our bodies, as they age, accumulate aches and pains as organs wear out and begin to malfunction. We must feed our bodies the proper foods, we must exercise, and we must refrain from destructive activities like the use of tobacco products, illegal drugs, and excessive alcohol. Eventually, if our bodies are not maintained, they will sicken and die far too soon.
Our consciences require constant exercise and discipline. If we do not maintain constant vigilance over our attitudes and beliefs, we will become self-centered. We will live only for self-gratification. Eventually, our consciences will sicken and die.
Relationships require a lot of work if they are to bear fruit. Human beings do not respond well to neglect. A marriage or friendship needs commitment and effort in order to succeed. Millions of marriages have failed from simple neglect and lack of communication.
A society requires unselfish, hard-working, imaginative, and patriotic individuals for its survival. When its individual members become obsessed with themselves and their own selfish pleasures, a society will sicken and eventually be absorbed by other cultures. This principle, a basic lesson of history, holds true even for animal-based clans and troops.
The principle of increasing entropy even applies to the largest system of all — the universe. As long as prodigious quantities of energy in all its forms are being produced and exchanged, the universe will live on. However, tens of billions of years from now, the universe will experience its “heat death,” when everything is the same temperature and entropy (disorder) is at a maximum.
And, of course, euthanasia is entropic. It undermines the very mission of the medical profession, which is to save lives and reduce pain. It is also an assault on our very language, twisting and corrupting the meanings of such important concepts as compassion and dignity. All of this leads to confusion and uncertainty.
Entropy is a fact of life everywhere and is considered “bad” in almost all circumstances. When highly organized systems (i.e., cars, computers, bodies, minds, and societies) increase their degree of entropy drastically, they will rust, break down, or die.
The Culture of Death’s mode of thinking is basically entropic by nature. It favors contraception, pornography, homosexual acts, sterilization, abortion, and euthanasia. This strange mindset strives to destroy the natural and efficient function of the human reproductive system, and ultimately, considers man to be just another animal. Curiously, it fails to recognize that non-instinct-driven euthanasia is unknown in the animal world.
It is a universal axiom that anything man-made that is “good” is difficult to initiate, maintain, improve, or enlarge, while it is difficult to prevent what is “bad” from spontaneously initiating, continuing, or expanding — weeds, cancer, crime, and rust are a few examples.
In other words, “bad” man-made or man-influenced things tend to grow by themselves; “good” things must be continuously nurtured.
By commutative reasoning, we may infer that whatever is man influenced and grows by itself is “bad.” This is particularly true of social issues.
Abortion is a good example of this reasoning. In a period of just five years, it expanded relentlessly, almost effortlessly, from a few exceptions in a few states to a universal “right” available through all nine months of pregnancy all over the country. By contrast, a “good” social expansion is the civil rights movement, which required decades of struggle on many fronts, the martyrdom of dozens, and is still not complete.
Another “good” example of civil rights activism is our own pro-life (anti-abortion) movement, which must struggle relentlessly against the full weight of the media and the state and federal governments. We must vigilantly guard every small advance, or each advance will be reabsorbed quickly and effortlessly.
We can see that euthanasia is currently expanding relentlessly and almost effortlessly, just as abortion did decades ago. We began our euthanasia “program” with a few extreme cases — allowing those in extreme agony, days or hours from dying, to pass away peacefully and passively — and now, we annually have thousands of handicapped newborns dying of neglect and many more thousands of elderly secretly “put away” by our doctors and nursing homes.
The ultimate goal of the pro-euthanasia movement is the same as that of the pro-abortion movement — euthanasia on demand, for any reason, and for all age groups including children, without parental knowledge or consent, of course.

Creating Confusion

Another good way of determining whether something is “good” or “bad” is by measuring the amount of confusion it causes (confusion being defined in this case as hindrance[s] to communication and/or understanding).
If something is deliberately made incomprehensible to average people, it is usually not in their best interest. If a social proposal is confusing and undecipherable, it is usually something that the Culture of Death is trying to “slip by” us. In fact, its promoters know that they must make things complicated and incomprehensible in order to make their advances. This tactic might be called “mystagoguery,” which is the exact opposite of trying to advance understanding.
As always, Compassion & Choices and other anti-life organizations condemn anyone who sees the euthanasia issue in “black and white” terms as “simplistic” thinkers. It is in the best interests of these groups to make the issue appear to be as complicated and as vague as possible, because then the vast majority of the public will feel intimidated and unqualified to comment or even hold an opinion on it.
This mighty weapon of “mystagoguery” worked very well for the pro-abortionists, particularly regarding the issue of “when life begins.” Now the anti-lifers are trying to confuse us as to when human life ends.
The thickets of conflicting pro-euthanasia laws and judgments, promulgated in a moral and ethical vacuum, are inevitably leading to situations of unparalleled savagery and confusion.
What a tangled web we weave! Nowhere is this truer than in the issue of euthanasia.