Medical ethics committees almost inevitably have theologians amongst their members, something of a curiosity in a society like ours which, we are told, is largely indifferent to religious matters. Why not rely on the philosophers alone? Why is it that theologians who work in the area of medical ethics are rung up with regularity by media folk who want a religious point of view? Is it simply a moral nostalgia at work, or yet a hunt for a reactionary opinion to contrast with up-to-date views? I think not. Rather there seems an inkling, even amongst those who are not themselves of a religious disposition, that these old ways and even the old myths may have something still to tell us about human well-being and our being in the world.

From the theologian's point of view, membership of a medical ethics working party can be a frustrating experience, not through lack of things to say or people who are willing to listen, but because moral judgements in any complex religion are based on a network of metaphysical and religious beliefs. In some senses, for instance, to understand the Christian view of the dignity of human life you have to go back to the Jewish and Christian myths of creation and this, in the context of a busy working party, there is rarely time to do.