Jewish, Hindu and Russian Orthodox Church viewpoints on end-of-life issues and their influence on Israel, India and Russian legislative decisions

Abstract

In this article we intend to compare Israeli, Indian and Russian Federation legislations on end-of-life issues with the aim to verify whether they are influenced by their majoritarian religions, i.e. respectively by Judaism, Hinduism and Orthodox Christianity. Therefore, in order to achieve this goal, the legal principles which in each of the above-mentioned State regulate their relations with the different religious communities will be first of all analysed. Subsequently, the Jewish, the Hindu and Russian Orthodox Church viewpoints on end-of-life issues will be briefly reported trying to take into account all their complexity. Finally, in light of those viewpoints, Israeli, Indian and Russian legislations will be examined to verify in a in a comparative perspective whether, and to what extent, they codify the viewpoints of their respective majoritarian religions on end-of-life issues.