Discourse analysis of religious views on euthanasia in Slovenia

Največja svoboda človeka je živeti in umreti po svojih prepričanjih. Tako je najpogostejša želja tistih z neozdravljivo boleznijo umreti z določeno mero dostojanstva. Prav o tem govori beseda o evtanaziji. Slovenska komisija za medicinsko etiko vztraja pri prepovedi evtanazije. Krščanski nasprotniki evtanazije se sklicujejo na svetost in nedotakljivost življenja. V Evropi evtanazijo dovoljujejo v Belgiji, na Nizozemskem, v Luksemburgu in Švici. Tako drugje po svetu kot pri nas je veliko število bolnikov, ki si ne želijo več podaljševanja agonije, ampak le še umreti. Kljub takim primerom evtanaziji še vedno nasprotujejo strokovnjaki različnih religijskih ozadij, kot na primer Anton Mlinar, ki trdi, da »ni nobene potrebe, da bi uzakonili evtanazijo, saj s to pravico nobena družba nič ne pridobi, ampak kvečjemu izgubi« (Mlinar, 12. 4. 2018). V diplomski nalogi bom najprej opisal postopek evtanazije in njene zvrsti, argumente za in proti evtanaziji ter teorijo kritične diskurzivne analize. V drugem delu bom z metodo diskurzivne analize preverjal, kako rimskokatoliški mediji v Sloveniji pišejo o evtanaziji, kako so v medijih prikazani evtanazija ter njeni zagovorniki in nasprotniki. V svoji nalogi tako želim prikazati, kako diskurz rimskokatoliških medijev oblikuje odnos javnosti do evtanazije.The greatest freedom of a person is to live and die by his beliefs. Thus, the most common wish of those with an incurable disease is to die with a certain degree of dignity. This is precisely what the debate surrounding euthanasia is about. The Slovenian Medical Ethics Commission insists on the euthanasia ban. Those who oppose euthanasia are in the majority Christian and refer to holiness and inviolability of life. In Europe, euthanasia is permitted in Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Switzerland. Same as in Slovenia as in around the world, there is a large number of patients who do not want to prolong their agony but simply die in peace. Despite such examples, euthanasia is still opposed by experts from different religious backgrounds, such as Anton Mlinar, who argues that "there is no need to enact euthanasia, since no society benefits from this right, but at the very least loses it" (Mlinar, 12.4. 2018). In my thesis, I will therefor first describe the process of euthanasia and its genre, the arguments for and against euthanasia, and the theory of critical discursive analysis. In the second part, I will use the method of discursive analysis to show how the Roman Catholic media in Slovenia write about euthanasia. My main goal is therefor to research how advocates and opponents of euthanasia and euthanasia itself is displayed in the media. In my work, I want to show how the discourse of the Roman Catholic media shapes the public\u27s attitude towards euthanasia