“All Who Hate Christ Love Death.” Why Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide are Wrong

The recent euthanasia of a 25-year-old woman, Noelia Castillo, in Spain signals a deeply disturbing cultural decline: assisted death is now offered as a compassionate solution for suffering, even among the young.

This alarming trend is particularly evident in the Netherlands, where a teenage boy with autism was euthanized just four-and-a-half years after diagnosis. Not even 18 years old, this young boy described living as utterly joyless, wracked by anxiety and mood disorders.

As bioethicist Wesley J. Smith warned decades ago, once death is accepted as an answer to suffering, any attempt to limit assisted suicide collapses under its own logic.

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Today’s youth are growing up in a culture saturated with death, numbed by abortion on demand and physician-assisted suicide, romanticized and glorified by violent video games, songs with explicit lyrics, and vulgar Hollywood movies.

For decades, these ungodly, pervasive messages have quietly reshaped youth’s understanding of life, suffering, and human dignity, promoting a nihilistic worldview that teaches that one’s life has no inherent meaning, morality is relative, and life itself is conditional on circumstance.

None of these elements acts alone, but together, they can desensitize us, distorting our view of our intrinsic worth and limiting our understanding of how to cope with emotional struggles. We are now witnessing the devastating consequences of a generation’s broken attitudes toward responsibility, fidelity, and relationships.

Digital culture has intensified the problem. Social media is flooded with dark humor, viral cruelty, and endless distractions. Graphic and depraved videos are amplified because they attract attention. Online pornography, hyper-sexualization, and objectification normalize casual relationships stripped of commitment or accountability.

Our public education system does little to teach the harms of these celebrated evils. Instead, it pushes the idea of “my truth,” the notion that ethics are entirely subjective. Without proper moral formation, minors are left with no guardrails.

One of the clearest examples is the family. Birthrates have fallen sharply, marriage is rejected or ends in divorce, and families are smaller than at any other point in modern history. This scenario fundamentally impacts how societies function and care for the sick and marginalized.

For generations, parents expected that children and grandchildren would eventually help carry the burdens of aging. Today, the traditional family structure is disintegrating in real time, leaving huge gaps that are not easily filled.

A husband and wife are called to serve one another in humility and love, choosing each day to place the other’s well-being alongside, and even ahead of, their own. This runs counter to a belief system increasingly shaped by self-definition, personal autonomy, and individual fulfillment. Younger generations are not uniquely flawed, but they are being shaped by a secular culture that rewards freedom from obligation over selfless devotion to others.

This state of affairs stands in sharp contrast to the traditional family culture in which previous generations were raised. Families, though imperfect, were shaped by Christian values and an understanding of human dignity rooted in the Bible, one that taught faithfulness, patience, and the duty to bear one another’s difficulties.

Caring for siblings, parents, and grandparents was not considered an inconvenience but a sacred calling. Those daily acts of placing others first formed the foundation of family life and the social structure of the community.

Today’s debates over abortion, assisted suicide, euthanasia, and the neglect of the weak and vulnerable are all connected. A culture that teaches that life is valuable only when it is productive or free from suffering undermines the promise of care and reduces people to their usefulness. As a result, life is no longer seen as sacred.

Patient advocacy has become essential under these circumstances. For more than two decades, the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network – the organization my family established in response to the death of my sister, Terri – has stood with families through the most tragic medical and ethical crises. We have offered guidance, support, and an unwavering defense of patients who might otherwise be discarded by a healthcare system that too often values money and convenience over care.

As cultural pressures increasingly threaten human life, the work of the Life & Hope Network and other patient advocates is more urgent than ever. Families facing medical uncertainty, pressure to stop treatment, or ethical confusion need champions who will affirm that every life matters.

Scripture warns that “all who hate Christ love death,” a reality that is becoming more visible in a society willing to abandon its most vulnerable. Yet, it is never too late. If we want a future where the defenseless are protected, we must restore a culture rooted in the power of love, one that cares for those in need unconditionally.

If we remain passive, we will only deepen our descent into a society that embraces death, one that treats the disabled as burdens, the unborn as disposable, and the elderly as expendable. If we want to become agents of change, we must walk with those who suffer in the courage, love and infinite mercy of Christ.

LifeNews Note: Bobby Schindler and his family work as patient advocates, establishing the non-profit Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network in honor of his sister, Terri. Click here to learn more about the Life & Hope Network.