“People in this generation have had a lot of control over their own lives. They’ve had a lot of choices that they were able to make, living in relatively good financial circumstances, for example, and maybe they want choices to have at the end. They want to control how they go out,” says University of Maryland philosophy professor Sam Kerstein. More →

January 8, 2016

In the five states where it’s legal, physician-assisted dying involves rigorous regulations, including how long a person has lived there, says Cathy Lynn Grossman, senior national correspondent for Religion News Service. “Brittany Maynard moved from California to Oregon, where it’s legal specifically to qualify for…a prescription for lethal drugs. The person takes the drugs themselves if and when they choose to, and not everyone who gets the prescription ever uses it.” More →

October 31, 2014

“Does the public really understand in a deep way what the moral burdens of war are? I don’t think so,” says philosopher, ethicist, and psychoanalyst Nancy Sherman. More →

March 11, 2011

“Soldiers carry all the moral weight of war, and we carry very little, and we need to share that moral burden by realizing that they are our surrogates,” according to philosopher, ethicist, and psychoanalyst Nancy Sherman, author of “The Untold War: Inside the Hearts, Minds, and Souls of Our Soldiers.” More →

March 11, 2011

“It’s our job as civilians to tend to the returning warriors by bringing them into the center of the communitiy,” says this psychotherapist and author of “War and the Soul.” More →

March 11, 2011

There is debate and discussion going on within religious communities about rhetoric, teachings, tolerance and anti-gay sentiments in society. More →

October 15, 2010

Read more of Kim Lawton’s interview with Judy Collins. More →

November 23, 2007

Historically, in most religious traditions, suicide has been considered a sin. In light of this, many survivors have felt religiously stranded. How can their faith help them heal when that same faith may fault their loved one for the act of suicide? More →

October 21, 2005

November 27, 1998

The House is preparing to vote on a bill that could severely curb a doctor’s ability to prescribe lethal drugs for the purpose of suicide. That ability is at the heart of the Oregon law that went into effect last fall. At age 35, Brian Lovell was diagnosed with colon cancer and was given six months to live. Now, he is ready to use Oregon’s Death with Dignity law. More →

September 18, 1998