The impact of religious affiliation and religious practices on attitudes toward euthanasia and assisted suicide: A sociological perspective

There has been a burgeoning interest in issues related to end-of-life decision making in recent times and these topics have largely been explored to date by examining the medical, psychological, or legal determinants of such attitudes and practices. The present thesis will examine this emerging area of interest through the prism of religious affiliation and religious practices, as it explores the difficult decisions people sometimes have to make at the end of their fives. Following an examination of existing public opinion research in this field, a review of some of the historical background of the euthanasia debate, and an exploration of the role that religion plays in end-of-life decision making, survey data that were gathered expressly for the present thesis from an original research design will be analysed. A series of survey questions on euthanasia were administered to a representative sample of the residents of a large Canadian urban area (n = 827), and these dependent variables were examined in light of the respondents' socio-demographic characteristics. Univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analyses showed substantial approval of both passive and active euthanasia among the sample, as well as support for other ‘liberal’ attitudes. Religiosity, as measured by the frequency of attendance at religious services, was found to be the most significant predictor of attitudes toward euthanasia, with those attending most frequently being the least supportive. Ethnocultural background was also an important predictor, with white respondents being most approving of euthanasia and black respondents being least approving. Suggestions for further research in this area are presented, as well as implications for the future of the euthanasia debate.