Religious Viewpoints

One of the biggest myths in the transplant community is that religious doctine opposes organ, tissue and eye donation. However, almost all major major religions across the world back donation and believe it is a selfless gift from one person to another. While the Protestant, Catholic and the Jewish faiths support it community-wide, Eastern religions believe the decision rests with the individual.

We encourage you to speak with your spirtual leader about your donation questions or learn more through our National Donor Sabbath page.

Some stances from religions include:

Mennonite: Mennonites have no formal position on donation, but are not opposed to it. They believe the decision to donate is up to the individual and/or their family.

Mormon: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints believes that the decision to donate is an individual one made in conjunction with family, medical personnel, and prayer. They do not oppose donation.

Pentecostal: Pentecostals believe that the decision to donate should be left up to the individual.

Presbyterian: Presbyterians encourage and support donation. They respect a person’s right to make decisions regarding their own body.

Seventh-Day Adventist: Donation and transplantation are strongly encouraged by Seventh-Day Adventists. Their name is associated with many transplant hospitals, including Loma Linda in California, which specialized in pediatric heart transplantation.

Unitarian/Universalist: Unitarian/Universalists affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every person and respect the interdependent web of all existence. They affirm the value of organ and tissue donation, but leave the decision to each individual.

United Methodist: In a 1983 statement, the United Methodist Church said that it, “recognizes the life-giving benefits of organ and tissue donation, and thereby encourage all Christians to become organ and tissue donors by signing and carrying cards or driver’s licenses, attesting to their commitment of such organs upon their death, to those in need, as part of their ministry to others in the name of Christ.”

Wesleyan Church: The Wesleyan Church supports donation as a way of helping others. They also support research and in 1989 noted in a task force on public morals and social concerns that “one of the ways that a Christian can do good is to request that their body be donated to a medical school for use in teaching.”