Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 5 December 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying

Religious, Faith-Based and other Philosophical Perspectives on Assisted Dying: Discussion

Reverend Dr. Rory Corbett:

Going back to what was discussed earlier, part of the problem is what we, as people of faith, perceive as the way we are received and the way we are heard by the secular world, if I may put it like that. I am sure all of us could have taken a much stronger theological view on it. You have got to choose who you are arguing something with. I know I am speaking for myself, and I do not want to move outside the debate particularly, but I think most people will argue that is what the audience is. It will change with the audience. The audience I would have when talking to a first-year student as opposed to a post-doctoral student would be very different. In the same way, talking to a lay secular audience rather than a faith-based audience-----