Hinduism Ethics

Animal Ethics

Cows are sacred animals to Hindus and are allowed to wander wherever they want, it is banned in India to kill a cow. The Ahimsa leads Hindus to treat all animals well. Most Hindus are vegetarian and butchery or any other type of job related to it is restricted to people of low caste.

Hinduism Ethics

Organ Donation

No religious laws prevent Hindus from donating their organs. Life after death is a strong belief for Hindus so most view organ donation as a positive. Most Hindus say that after the soul leaves someone their body is only seen as a machine.

Capital Punishment

There is no official Hindu line on capital punishment, but it does go against the Ahimsa. India still does have the death penalty; however it is only used in the rarest of cases.

Euthanasia

There are multiple views on euthanasia. Some people believe that if a doctor accepts a patient's request of euthanasia it will damage the karma of the doctor and the patient. Another view is that helping a person end a painful life is a good deed.

Suicide

Prayopavesa, or fasting to death, is the only acceptable form of suicide. The rules of prayopavesa is inability to perform normal bodily purification, death is imminent or the condition is so bad that there are no more life pleasures, the decision is publicly announced, and it must be done under community regulation.

Abortion

War

When considering abortion the Hindu way is to do the least amount of harm to the child, the mother, the father, and society. Classical Hindu texts strongly oppose it, as it goes against the principle of Ahimsa.

Hinduism includes teachings that support violence and war and teachings that don't. The teachings that forbid violence are from the ahimsa. The people that do support it are those in the Kshatriya, the warrior class. Those who do believe in war have strict rules of war. These rules are no poisoning the tip of your arrow, do not attack the sick or old, do not attack a woman or child, and do not attack from behind.

Contraception

Birth control is allowed in Hinduism. Most Hindus believe it is a duty to have a family, so most don't use contraception to avoid having kids all together. Since India is overpopulated most discussions of birth control are because of the environmental problems, so birth control is not a major ethical issue.

Ahimsa

Ahimsa is one of the ideals of Hinduism. It means that no one should harm any living being or wish to harm any living being. Ahimsa is non-violence but it also means no physical, mental, and emotional harm.