Belgium Becoming Beyond Belief

By Dr Kevin Fitzpatrick

Director - EPC Europe

The chair of the local Free Humanist group in the Belgian town Aarschot is organizing a lecture by the leading euthanasia advocate Wim Distelmans. She is also a primary school teacher, who is organising this meeting outside of school. Yet amongst her advertising strategies, she placed a flyer about Distelmans speaking on euthanasia in the children’s school diaries! She even placed it in the diary of one 8 year old child whose grandmother had been euthanized by Distelmans without the family’s knowledge.

Quite rightly indignant, the child’s father Dr Tom Mortier, challenged her. She was equally indignant – she could not even begin to see what she was doing. The flyer was meant for parents after all, so what could be so wrong, and yes, of course she knew about Tom’s mother’s death but even that did not stop her putting the flyer in his 8 year old daughter’s school diary.

This is simply and breathtakingly cruel. But cruelty seems to be off the Belgian moral register when it comes to euthanasia. Logan’s Run? More like Soylent Green with glee.