Sanctity of life


In religion and ethics, the inviolability or sanctity of life is a principle of implied protection regarding aspects of sentient life that are said to be holy, sacred, or otherwise of such value that they are not to be violated. This can be applied to both animals and humans or micro-organisms; for instance, in religions that practice Ahimsa, both are seen as holy and worthy of life.

In Christianity

The phrase sanctity of life refers to the idea that human life is sacred, holy, and precious, used mainly in political and moral debates over such controversial issues as abortion, contraception, euthanasia, embryonic stem-cell research, and the "right to die" in English-speaking countries, comparable phrases are also used in other languages. Although the phrase was used primarily in the 19th century in Protestant discourse, since World War II the phrase has been used in Catholic moral theology and, following Roe v. Wade, Evangelical Christian moral rhetoric.
The sanctity of life principle, which is often contrasted with the "quality of life" to some extent, is the basis of all Catholic teaching about the fifth commandment in the Ten Commandments.

In Eastern religions

In Western thought, sanctity of life is usually applied solely to the human species, in marked contrast to many schools of Eastern philosophy, which often hold that all animal life is sacred―in some cases to such a degree that, for example, practitioners of Jainism carry brushes with which to sweep insects from their path, lest they inadvertently tread upon them.

In Logic

To expand into other areas of philosophy, ask the following question: "Would you kill Hitler in 1939?". Both possible answers can be seen as contrary to sanctity of life. Answering this question is a clear way to distinguish individuals with a consequentialist or deontological personal sense of morality.