Church to ‘legalise’ suicide in historic U-turn on funerals

THE Church of England is embroiled in a row over proposals to sweep away laws that forbid a full Christian funeral to people who have taken their own lives.

Most clergy now regard suicide with far more sympathy than when ‘self murder’ was still a crime, and the move will be seen as reflecting a growing acceptance as more Britons choose to end their lives in clinics such as Dignitas in Switzerland.

But some critics within the Church say the reforms will ‘legalise’ suicide, which should still be regarded a serious sin.

One senior member said: ‘The Church has always opposed suicide on the basis of the commandment Thou Shalt Not Kill, and that includes yourself.’

The move comes as Labour peer Lord Falconer’s Assisted Dying Bill, which says terminally-ill patients must make a ‘voluntary’ and ‘informed’ decision to end their lives before they can be helped to do so, faces further debate in the House of Lords later this month.

Those to welcome the possible Church move include art critic Brian Sewell, who revealed in an article two years ago that he would be prepared to take his own life if he became very ill.

Mr Sewell said: ‘One of the most unchristian things a church can do is to refuse a proper burial to those that commit suicide. It is one of those petty meannesses that date back centuries and the Church should give consideration to this and deal with it fairly promptly.’

Under centuries-old Church rules, it is technically illegal for clergy to use official funeral services to bury those who have ‘laid violent hands’ upon themselves, particularly while of ‘sound mind’, although in reality the law is almost universally ignored.

The Church of England’s General Synod meets next month, when members will call for Canon law to be reformed so that clergy who use the Church’s rites to bury those who have taken their own life in any circumstances are no longer in breach of the law.

Under the current Church law, Canon B38, clergy are supposed to use a modified funeral service for people who have taken their own lives while of sound mind when they killed themselves, to reflect the Church’s concerns about suicide.

But no alternative service has ever been approved by Synod, despite

‘It is unchristian to refuse a proper burial’

several reports into the issue over the past 50 years, and the vast majority of the Synod is expected to support the proposed reforms.

Leading the calls for reform, Canon Michael Parsons said many clergy were not even aware of what was an outdated law and were mainly concerned to treat the relatives and friends of the deceased with sensitivity. Canon Parsons, from Gloucester, said the change would bring the Church into line with what was now common practice and would help shed lingering perceptions that clergy were ‘hostile’ to those who feel compelled to take their own lives.

One Briton a fortnight is now believed to end his or her life at the Dignitas clinic and for every one that travels abroad, ten terminally ill people are thought to take their lives in this country, according to supporters of the legislation.

But former Government Minister Lord Tebbit, a vocal opponent of assisted suicide, said that by changing its laws the Church might suggest it had diluted its principles. He said: ‘The Church is in danger of getting into a muddle because we can take a merciful view of people who kill themselves while the balance of their mind is disturbed.

‘But we are now looking at cases in which people who appear to be quite sane want to take their own lives. The Church should think again.’