Memorandum by the General Assembly of
Unitarian and Free Christian Churches
I am writing to you in my capacity as Chair
of the Faith and Public Issues Commission of the General Assembly
of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches, in response to your
letter of 30 January 2008 concerning the House of Lords Inquiry
on organ donation and transplantation. I offer the responses to
your questions after having discussed them with my fellow-Commission
members and the Chief Executive of the General Assembly, the Reverend
Steve Dick. Together, we operate as a representative group of
the wider body which we serve.
I respond to your numbered questions:
Q1. There are no particular aspects of organ
donation and transplantation that are considered ethically problematic
within the context of the religious beliefs of the Unitarian and
Free Christian tradition, either in the United Kingdom or in other
EU Member States.
Q2. There is no significant tendency for
individuals to oppose organ donation either for themselves or
for a family member on the basis of their own interpretation of
the religious teaching of the Unitarian and Free Christian tradition.
Q3. The Unitarian and Free Christian tradition
places the highest value on the authority of individual conscience.
For this reason, a change to a system of presumed consent for
organ donation would not be any more or any less ethically acceptable
than the status quo.
Q4. According to the value system which
is upheld by the Unitarian and Free Christian tradition, in which
the conscience of the individual is paramount in matters of belief
and personal ethics, it would be fully acceptable for members
of any particular group(s) to be assumed as opting-out of any
presumed consent arrangement.
Thank you for your inclusion of this faith group
in your consultative process. It is appreciated.
22 February 2008
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