The Interfaith Alliance Hawai’i and Religious Leaders for Assisted Dying state that we respect the right of competent adults to make their own decisions concerning end of life choices according to their own beliefs and values.

So there are no misunderstandings, we do not support the indiscriminate taking of one’s own life, but rather acknowledge that in certain carefully defined circumstances, it would be humane to recognize that death is certain and suffering is great. We believe that, by whatever name we call our Supreme Being, we have been granted the responsibility of individual choice over our lives. Just as we should be free to worship according to our individual understanding of faith, we should have the freedom in making our own end-of-life choices.

Those who oppose assisted dying based on their own moral, ethical, or religious beliefs simply need not participate. We do not believe it is up to any religious leader to dictate how this final and perhaps most intimate decision between a dying person and his or her God should be made. Instead, we must support and accept such decisions, even if they do not represent the course that we ourselves might have chosen.