Renaissance sculptures and saints' relics are not as sexy as cadavers playing hoops, but gazing at the Pieta surely is a more ennobling experience than ogling corpses at the mall.

The concept of human dignity and what is required to respect it is at the centre of the euthanasia debate.

An extraordinary public exchange of letters between over the past six months has illuminated in a very personal way the profound issues posed by death and all that leads to it.

The new tradition that Peter Singer welcomes is founded on a "quality-of-life" ethic. It allegedly replaces the outgoing morality that is based on the "sanctity-of-life."