Comments on: In Sickness and in Health http://www.whydontyou.org.uk/blog/2009/06/28/in-sickness-and-in-health/ Challenging the Zeitgeist Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:20:34 +0100 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Roger Pearse http://www.whydontyou.org.uk/blog/2009/06/28/in-sickness-and-in-health/comment-page-1/#comment-21417 Roger Pearse Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:23:44 +0000 http://www.whydontyou.org.uk/blog/?p=2627#comment-21417 I happened to see your post and wondered if I might comment. I've seen the news reporting on this, all of it fairly hostile too. But if I understand the situation correctly, all this reporting has been misleading. The doctors don't want some new right. They don't want to evangelise the dying. It's much more simple than that. We have all sorts of laws being invented to stifle free speech at the moment, and Health Authorities are taking a lead from them. What the doctors are afraid of is being arrested if they make some innocuous remark. There have been several instances of people being dismissed or subjected to "investigation" for doing pretty innocuous things. Nobody wants some god-botherer in their face. That's not the issue, as I understand it, but the reverse. There is a real risk that any member of the world's largest religion who says "Jesus" (except as a curse) may be punished; and naturally, they want some protection against some over-officious PC bigot. I happened to see your post and wondered if I might comment. I’ve seen the news reporting on this, all of it fairly hostile too. But if I understand the situation correctly, all this reporting has been misleading.

The doctors don’t want some new right. They don’t want to evangelise the dying. It’s much more simple than that. We have all sorts of laws being invented to stifle free speech at the moment, and Health Authorities are taking a lead from them.

What the doctors are afraid of is being arrested if they make some innocuous remark. There have been several instances of people being dismissed or subjected to “investigation” for doing pretty innocuous things.

Nobody wants some god-botherer in their face. That’s not the issue, as I understand it, but the reverse. There is a real risk that any member of the world’s largest religion who says “Jesus” (except as a curse) may be punished; and naturally, they want some protection against some over-officious PC bigot.

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