Debate is continuing in the House of Lords over a bill which would allow terminally ill people to choose to end their lives.
A record number of peers are due to speak on the second reading of the Assisted Dying Bill.
It's currently illegal to help someone die in the UK.
The bill proposed by Lord Falconer would mean people living in England and Wales who are told they have less than six months to live could take their own life.
Before any decision could be made, two doctors would have to confirm the patient was terminally ill and had reached the decision without any pressure from friends of family.
On Premier's 'News Hour', religious blogger for the Guardian, Andrew Brown explained why he thought Christian leaders shouldn't have come together in a open letter to oppose the proposed legislation, he said:"it doesn't help to counteract that argument to say, 'here we are, we're all religious leaders together and we're all denouncing this bill', because that suggests that what you have in common is not your concerns about what goes on in this world but your belief about what goes on in the next".
The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has called the proposals "mistaken and dangerous".
But one of his predecessors, Lord Carey, has come out in support of the bill.
Writing in the Daily Mail he said: "Until recently, I would have fiercely opposed Lord Falconer's bill, following the traditional line of the Christian Church. I would have used the time-honoured argument that we should be devoting ourselves to care, not killing.
"I would have paraded all the usual concerns about the risks of 'slippery slopes' and 'state-sponsored euthanasia'.
"But those arguments which persuaded me in the past seem to lack power and authority when confronted with the experiences of those approaching a painful death.
"It fails to address the fundamental question as to why we should force terminally ill patients to an unbearable point. It is the magnitude of suffering that has been preying on my mind as the discussion over the right to die has intensified.
"Today we face a central paradox. In strictly observing the sanctity of life, the Church could now actually be promoting anguish and pain, the very opposite of a Christian message of hope."
Protestors from both sides of the debate will be outside parliament during the debate.
Writing for The Times the current Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said: "It would be very naive to think that many of the elderly people who are abused and neglected each year, as well as many severely disabled individuals, would not be put under pressure to end their lives if assisted suicide were permitted by law.
"It would be equally naive to believe, as the Assisted Dying Bill suggests, that such pressure could be recognised in every instance by doctors given the task of assessing requests for assisted suicide.
"Abuse, coercion and intimidation can be slow instruments in the hands of the unscrupulous, creating pressure on vulnerable people who are encouraged to 'do the decent thing'".
It's unlikely there will be any vote in the House of Lords and the debate could be passed onto committee stage.
Premier's Martyn Eden has a timeline of events here.
Religious blogger for the Guardian, Andrew Brown:
Former GP Dr Andrew Ferguson from Care Not Killing tells Premier why he is against the bill:
Chaplain to the Bishop of Buckingham Canon Rosie Harper tells Premier why she is for it: