Religion and attitudes concerning euthanasia 53 at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on March 4, 2016jos.sagepub.comDownloaded from

Although it is possible to view the euthanasia debate primarily as a power struggle involving patients as well as medical and political lobbies (McInerney, 2000: 138), there is little doubt that religiosity remains rele-vant in moral choices involving life and death (Caddell and Newton, 1995; Kellehear, 1998: 296). Despite modernization and rationalization, religious commitment, reflected in denominational affiliations and church atten-dance, maintains its power to demarcate and reconfigure the boundaries of morality (Burdette et al., 2005; Evans and Kelley, 2004: 31). Yet, its influ-ence is multidimensional, complex, and dynamic, as religious practices in traditional organizational settings give way to more private and individual Journal of Sociology © 2009 The Australian Sociological Association, Volume 45(1): 31–54 DOI:10.1177/1440783308099985 www.sagepublications.com What was the influence of religious identity, beliefs and practices on attitudes to euthanasia in Australia during the 1990s? To address this question I analyse data from national representative surveys and find that denomination, church attendance and beliefs in personal God all made a difference to attitudes to vol-untary and non-voluntary euthanasia in unique ways. Moreover, the acceptance of a scientific outlook, comprising elements of Darwinism and modern cosmol-ogy, enhanced support for the right to ‘easy death ’ amongst the non-religious. Formal education did not directly polarize attitudes to this issue, but it raised the likelihood of accepting a scientific cosmology. A scientific outlook, in turn, strengthened the belief that, in some circumstances, the deliberate taking of life should be allowed. But even as levels of education increased and both church attendance and the intensity of religious beliefs declined, Australian church-goers and worshippers maintained their fervent opposition to euthanasia