What does Christianity say about assisted dying?

Most Christian traditions—Catholic, Orthodox, and most evangelical Protestant churches—teach that deliberately ending a life, even to relieve suffering, isn't something Christians should choose or help with. This flows from a core conviction that human life belongs to God, carrying worth he gives rather than worth we assign based on how much someone can still do or endure.

This is different from simply letting someone die naturally. Nearly all traditions accept stopping treatment that only prolongs dying, and giving pain medication that may shorten life as a side effect of relieving suffering. Neither of those aims to kill—they accept death's timing rather than causing it.

Some Christians and a smaller number of denominations, particularly within mainline Protestantism, place more weight on individual conscience in the hardest terminal cases, though this remains a minority view.

If you're facing this with someone you love, or facing it yourself, this isn't meant to add guilt to grief. God's compassion for people in real suffering is real too—this conviction and genuine tenderness toward the dying aren't opposites.