Comparative Religious Bioethics

Catalog description

Empirical studies have shown that attitudes to bioethical issues are often influenced by religion. Moreover, in the past few decades, religious authorities have expressed outspoken opinions on bioethical issues not only in Christianity, but in other religions too. However, there are substantial differences between religions in the ways in which bioethical arguments are constructed. Insight in this religious diversity is important to understand the bioethical attitudes of people belonging to religious minorities (e.g. Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Muslims) who work or receive treatment in Catholic healthcare institutions. In the first part of the course, students become aware of the existence of deep structural differences between the Roman Catholic tradition and non-Christian religions in their development of bioethics. In the second part, the differences are further explored through the study of (non-Christian) religious answers to a concrete ethical issue at the end of life. In the third part, the observations from the previous parts are applied to assess whether and how these answers differ from Roman Catholic answers.