Traditions & Worldviews

Islam

Muslim perspectives on serious illness and dying emphasize tawakkul (trust and reliance on Allah), patience in suffering, preparation for the Hereafter, and a strong focus on maintaining the ability to remember Allah and recite the Shahada near death.

Christianity – Roman Catholic

Catholic teaching frames serious illness and dying within the Paschal mystery, emphasizing redemptive suffering, sacraments for the sick and dying, and the duty to relieve pain while avoiding euthanasia.

Judaism

Jewish end-of-life traditions emphasize honoring the dying and deceased (kavod ha-met), confessing sins (Vidui), guarding the body (Shmirah), and rapid, simple burial under the care of the Chevra Kadisha.

Hinduism

Hindu understandings of a good death (antyesti) emphasize karma, rebirth, and rituals that support the soul's journey, including cremation and immersion of ashes in sacred waters such as the Ganga.

Buddhism

Buddhist approaches to dying, especially in Tibetan traditions, stress maintaining awareness, cultivating a calm mind, and practices such as Phowa (transference of consciousness) to support a favorable rebirth.

Christianity – Protestant

Protestant traditions encompass a wide range of beliefs about dying and afterlife, from evangelical emphasis on salvation assurance to mainline focus on pastoral care and community. Practices vary widely across denominations.

Sikhism

Sikh teachings view death as a natural part of the divine cycle, emphasizing acceptance of God's will (hukam), meditation on the divine Name (Naam), and community support through prayer and recitation of sacred texts.

Indigenous & Native Traditions

Indigenous and Native spiritual traditions are extraordinarily diverse, but many share themes of interconnectedness with the land, ancestral guidance, community ceremony, and holistic views of health that integrate physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions.

Secular / Non-Religious

Many patients and families approach serious illness and dying without religious affiliation, drawing meaning from relationships, personal values, legacy, nature, philosophy, or humanistic ethics. Their existential and spiritual needs are equally real and deserve equal attention.

Multi-faith and Interfaith Perspectives

Hospice and palliative care teams increasingly serve religiously diverse and secular populations, requiring flexible spiritual care models that honor individual beliefs, values, and existential concerns rather than assuming a single tradition.

Jehovah's Witnesses

Jehovah's Witnesses hold sincere religious convictions regarding blood, based on their interpretation of Acts 15:28–29, which typically leads to refusal of whole blood and its primary components. End-of-life care planning must identify and honor any signed advance directive declining blood products early in the clinical relationship. Bloodless medicine protocols, careful symptom management, and direct conversation — rather than assumption — are essential. Spiritual support centers on resurrection hope and trust in Jehovah's sovereignty.

Individual beliefs vary; always confirm the patient's current documented wishes directly.

Orthodox Christianity

Orthodox Christianity (Greek, Antiochian, Russian/OCA, and other jurisdictions) understands death not as annihilation but as a ‘falling asleep’ (κοίμησις) and passage to eternal life. The Church's funeral and Unction prayers explicitly ask for a Christian ending to life — ‘painless, blameless, peaceful.’ A sharp moral line separates allowing a natural, unhastened death (permitted) from actively causing death through euthanasia or assisted suicide (never permitted); pain relief and comfort care are affirmed without reservation.

Sourced from Orthodox Church in America (OCA) and Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOARCH) bioethics resources. Not yet verified against the original source, and not yet independently reviewed by an Orthodox chaplain or ethicist. Positions can vary by jurisdiction and priest; always confirm with the family's own clergy.

Latter-day Saints

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches the sanctity of human life and opposes euthanasia, while explicitly distinguishing euthanasia from allowing a natural death by removing a patient from artificial life support in cases of terminal illness. Members are taught they are not obligated to extend mortal life by unreasonable means, and that death from terminal illness, when it becomes inevitable, can be understood as a purposeful part of eternal existence grounded in belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Sourced from official Church Newsroom statements and the General Handbook. Not yet verified against the original source, and not yet independently reviewed by a Latter-day Saint chaplain or ethicist.

Baháʼí Faith

The Baháʼí Faith teaches that the soul is immortal and continues progressing toward God after death, which is described as a new birth rather than an ending. The Universal House of Justice, the Faith's supreme governing body, has not legislated specifically on euthanasia or withdrawal of life support, leaving such decisions to individual conscience in consultation with competent physicians and, where possible, the patient. Baháʼí burial law, set out in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, is specific and clinically relevant: burial (never cremation) within an hour's journey of the place of death.

Sourced from the Baháʼí Reference Library (bahai.org) and Lights of Guidance (a published compilation of Universal House of Justice and Guardian correspondence). Not yet verified against the original source, and not yet independently reviewed by a Baháʼí community member or ethicist. Formal institutional bioethics guidance is less centrally published than for some other traditions in this dataset; several positions here reflect the explicit absence of specific legislation rather than a stated position.