The Humanist Manifesto II called for the legalization of “the right to die with dignity, including euthanasia and the right to suicide.” It bore some well-known signatories, including B. F. Skinner, Corliss Lamont, Betty Friedan, Gunnar Myrdal, and Julian Huxley. Can Christians endorse these “rights”? They need to know what Scripture has to say in this area. Be sure to read the two articles in this issue on death, one on mercy killing and the other on the bereaved, and the lead book review, which evaluates eight recent books on death. And then do something to make it possible for people to “die with dignity” without resorting either to suicide or mercy killing, both of which are foreign to biblical revelation.
Editor’s Note from February 27, 1976
