Deck 17: Abortion and Euthanasia-Life and Death

Question 1

The Confucian virtue of __________ most militates against support for euthanasia involving the elderly.

A) actionless action
B) filial piety
C) humaneness
D) non-injury to all forms of life
E) reciprocity

Answer 1

B

Question 2

One of the stages of the __________ (right action) prohibits the willing killing of a living thing.

A) Dhammapada
B) Eight Beatitudes
C) Noble Eightfold Path
D) Ten Commandments
E) Tripitaka

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The debate about abortion among Protestants centers mostly on __________.

A) the question of when the soul is breathed into the body
B) the rights of individuals to make their own moral choices
C) what Jesus said on the matter
D) what the Bible says on the matter
E) what theologians like Martin Luther and John Calvin have written on the subject

Answer 3

D

Question 4

The shooting of a comatose, terminally ill patient by a family member seeking to take the person out of his or her misery is an example of __________.

A) involuntary, active euthanasia
B) involuntary, passive euthanasia
C) voluntary, active euthanasia
D) voluntary, passive euthanasia
E) none of the above

Question 5

In __________, many women who have had abortions make offerings to the bodhisattva Kannon so that the aborted fetus will be reborn as a human and eventually as a Buddha.

A) Bangladesh
B) India
C) Japan
D) Sri Lanka
E) Tibet

Question 6

The moral principle of ahimsa (non-injury) is the basis for opposition to abortion __________.

A) Christianity
B) Confucianism
C) Hinduism
D) Islam
E) Judaism

Question 7

The teaching that the way of nature should not be resisted implies opposition to abortion most clearly in __________.

A) the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
B) Daoism
C) Hinduism
D) Jainism
E) Sikhism

Question 8

The view that death should be approached mindfully is strongest in __________.

A) Confucianism
B) Daoism
C) Hinduism
D) indigenous religions
E) Theravada Buddhism

Question 9

The position of the Roman Catholic Church is that __________.

A) abortion is murder
B) abortion is necessary to slow population growth
C) the freedom of a woman whether to have an abortion should be absolute
D) on this issue the Bible is a higher authority than the official teaching of the Church as expressed by the pope
E) since the standard for human life is the male human being, only female fetuses may be aborted

Question 10

Emphasis on acceptance of the natural flow of life and death is strongest in __________.

A) Christianity
B) Confucianism
C) Daoism
D) Hinduism
E) Sikhism

Question 11

The view that the fetus is not alive until the spirit is breathed into it ("ensoulment") is an important factor in the __________ teaching about abortion.

A) Daoism
B) Confucianism
C) Islam
D) Jainism
E) Theravada Buddhism

Question 12

When a Hindu sadhu ends his own life by stopping the intake of food as an expression of his renunciation of attachment to the material self, the action is an example of __________.

A) involuntary, active euthanasia
B) involuntary, passive euthanasia
C) voluntary, active euthanasia
D) voluntary, passive euthanasia
E) none of the above

Question 13

On the issue of abortion, among the branches of Judaism there is broad agreement that __________.

A) abortion is murder
B) abortion is necessary to slow population growth
C) the freedom of a woman whether to have an abortion should be absolute
D) when the mother's life is threatened, her right to life has priority over that of the fetus
E) the written Torah takes precedence over the oral Torah as a source of guidance on this issue

Question 14

The doctrine of ?__________ provides the basis for the Hindu and Theravada Buddhist view that individuals must make moral decisions on issues like abortion for themselves.

A) ahimsa
B) karma
C) mahapatakas
D) maya
E) moksha

Question 15

The number of fetuses aborted in the United States since 2008 constitutes __________.

A) about 500/day
B) about 2,000/day
C) more than 5,000/day
D) more than all the lives lost in all wars in U.S. history
E) more than all the lives lost at the Battle of Gettysburg

Question 16

Concern about __________ leads some Native American people to take a pro-choice position.

A) birth defects
B) disharmony caused by overpopulation
C) financial difficulties
D) having more male children
E) the sanctity of life

Question 17

__________ stresses that neither the fetus nor the mother has rights independent of the network of social relations in which they exist.

A) Christianity
B) Confucianism
C) Hinduism
D) Islam
E) Theravada Buddhism

Question 18

Since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, __________ abortions have occurred in the United States.

A) 40,000
B) 400,000
C) 4,000,000
D) 40,000,000
E) 400,000,000

Question 19

Abortion of female fetuses because of a desire for male children is most common in __________.

A) Afganistán
B) Canada
C) India
D) The United States
E) The Philippines

Question 20

African religions have tended to consider abortion a __________.

A) "bad act," because life is sacred
B) decision for individual women to make
C) legitimate means for parents to choose the gender of their child
D) procedure for destroying a baby who may become a witch
E) regrettable social necessity

Question 21

Which of the religious positions on abortion do you find most persuasive? Why?

Question 22

Do religions help clarify or confuse serious reflection on the morality of abortion? How so or how not?

Question 23

The Muslim teaching about euthanasia is that __________.

A) active euthanasia is less of a concern than passive euthanasia
B) actively killing a dying person would be an interference with the divine plan
C) Allah does not punish people for the sin of active euthanasia
D) Allah ordains the time of birth but not the time of death
E) everything should be done to alleviate the suffering of those in one's care

Question 24

Discuss the similarities and differences among the teachings on abortion from at least three families of religions.

Question 25

Discuss the similarities and differences among the teachings on euthanasia from at least three families of religions.

Question 26

The Talmud recognizes a state called gosses in which __________.

A) a person is no longer competent to make medical decisions
B) a terminally ill person's life may be ended if two rabbis agree
C) death is imminent, but the person is still considered a human being
D) friends and family gather around a dying person
E) the soul has already departed the body, though the person is still alive

Question 27

Which of the religious positions on euthanasia do you find most persuasive? Why?

Question 28

Choose one of the religious positions on euthanasia and show how it would be applied in the following four situations: a 16-year-old with serious depression; 55-year-old woman with end-stage pancreatic cancer; an anencephalic neonate; and an 80-year old comatose man in a permanent vegetative state.

Question 29

Explain your position on euthanasia and discuss its similarities and differences from the teachings from at least three of the families of religions.

Question 30

The Sikh teaching about euthanasia is that __________.

A) active euthanasia is less of a concern than passive euthanasia
B) active euthanasia may be permissible in some circumstances
C) actively killing a dying person would be an interference with the divine plan
D) Allah ordains the time of birth but not the time of death
E) emphasis should be placed on care of sufferers

Question 31

Discuss the similarities and differences among the teachings on euthanasia within the various strands of Christianity.

Question 32

Choose one of the religious positions on abortion and show how it would be applied in the following four situations: incestuous rape of a ten-year-old; an unmarried, jobless woman who already has three children; a woman with HIV-AIDS; and a woman with an ectopic pregnancy.

Question 33

Leaders of __________ have spoken out most forcefully in defense of active euthanasia.

A) Christianity
B) Confucianism
C) indigenous religions
D) Secular Humanism
E) Islam

Question 34

Discuss the similarities and differences among the teachings on euthanasia within the various strands of Judaism.

Question 35

Explain your position on abortion and discuss its similarities and differences from the teachings from at least three of the families of religions.

Question 36

Do religions help clarify or confuse serious reflection on the morality of euthanasia? How so or how not?

Question 37

Discuss the similarities and differences among the teachings on abortion within the various strands of Christianity.

Question 38

In Japanese, the word for euthanasia is another name for the __________.

A) Buddha
B) emperor
C) land beneath the earth
D) Pure Land
E) Sun Goddess

Question 39

Discuss the similarities and differences among the teachings on abortion within the various strands of Judaism.