Kingdoms, priests and handmaidens: bioethics and its culture

ABSTRACT

Central to this essay is the understanding that varied communities may have an inherent and unrecognised culture of their own and this culture may be detrimental to their core. Bioethics constitutes one such community and is embedded in norms and values comprising its own culture. I use exclusion of religion or simply ‘irreligion’ as an example of a cultural element that may be established and so shape the culture of bioethics. Irreligious bioethics includes both overt religious preclusion and the more pervasive form of religious marginalisation. This norm is narrated into the culture of bioethics with justifications sustaining it. Irreligious bioethics is inadmissible as it claims illegitimate neutrality, is a misuse of expertise and results in a variety of harms. As bioethics is influential in society, those engaged should be critically reflective and aware of harmful cultural elements whilst also possessing the honesty, courage and capacity to change them.

KEYWORDS:

• Bioethics
• culture
• expertise
• harm
• neutrality
• religion

Acknowledgements

Thank you to the anonymous reviewers who considered the manuscript and gave it careful thought. With appropriate challenges they directed me to its final form. This process resulted in subtle changes in direction of content in some areas and expansions elsewhere. They saw the story, recognised its value and helped create its reality. Thanks also to Professor Ainsley Newson and Dr Siun Gallagher at Sydney Health Ethics who provided the additional impetus to move the essay towards its destination.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Stephen Richards

Stephen Richards is completing postgraduate studies in Bioethics at the University of Sydney in Australia. He also works as a specialist intensivist at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Western Australia. He is an Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the School of Medicine at the University of Notre Dame, Australia. The views expressed in this work are entirely those of the Author and do not necessarily represent any organisation with which he is affiliated.