I must confess I'm worried by the overt religiosity displayed in governments at home and abroad.

I cannot think of a single country that has an effective government without the separation of church and state.
Italy comes close, but as governments go, it's not particularly impressive. Corruption is rife, and lets face is, berlusconi was a prime example of why media barons shouldn't be allowed to enter politics.

The neo-conservative movement in the US is showing us what we are in danger of becoming. We have far more to fear from this than any terrorist movement.

Yes the last 4 Corners showed the NSW Liberal Party being overun by Christian fundamentalists. Membership of the party down from 40,000 to 10,000 these fanatics weild enormous power within the NSW Liberal Party, and who knows perhaps in other States as well. Costello belongs to Hillsong it's a frightening thought that so few can control so many, is this democracy?

It is quite frightening that the pro-euthanasia lobby can get away with self-definitiions of itself as radical, and 'progressive'. Anyone seriously interested in dying can swallow a bottle of sleeping pills quite easily. The medical profession should not be implicated in killing, and if doctors do assist in the dying process they should be obliged to do so out of pure altruism and with some trepidation - not with professional approval or any overt support. Incidentally, I do not belong to any Christian lobby group.

Christian's are know for their belief that they should control how other people behave and their right to do so.

Veritas,

There are a couple of problems with your 'sleeping pill' solution. Firstly, we are talking about someone who is dying, probably in palliative care, without access to a GP who would need to prescribe an overdose amount, let-alone getting to a chemist to have the script perscribed.

The next problem, assuming that the person can access the means to kill themselves, may botch the job which could well result in further pain and care needs while they wait to die.

Christianity has a motif of pain in this life for pleasure in happy-slappy-land after death. They impose this belief on anyone regardless of the pain and lack of dignity that that person may be enduring.

If we own anything for ourselves - it is our own lives and the right to decide what we will do with life.

I admire Dr. Nitschke and firmly believe that people have the moral right to take their own lives when they choose to do so. But I’m not sure that I agree with his theory that fundamental religionists are responsible from keeping euthanasia from us.

Australia is not a particularly religious country and, as Dr. Nitschke tells us, Amanda Lohery writes the ‘fundamentalist, all-denomination Christian lobby” supposedly responsible for blocking euthanasia is ‘small in number’.

It is much more likely that our usual complacency in the face of vociferous minorities is the problem.

Australians have demanded and come to expect more and more intervention from politicians in their lives to the extent that we are now a nanny state. We have, in fact, almost reached a point which comes about periodically in all civilisations – slavery in prosperity. We have demanded that governments do more for us: take responsibility for things we should be doing for ourselves, to the extent that they have for some time quietly been taking on the patronising role of parents, big-brother, whatever, and assuming that they know what is best for us.

We have lost much of the control we should have over our own lives – and now, our own deaths.

When enough of us finally wake up to this and start taking back responsibility for ourselves, we will kick out the Andrews of politics and the others who want to force their own narrow beliefs on the country, and the laws we want will be enacted.

Meanwhile, to hell with politicians. There are many ways of doing the deed if we really have to, and they do not involve travelling to Switzerland. And, there are many more ordinary people in Australia than there are politicians, police etc put together to preventing us from doing so