Committing suicide or helping someone else commit suicide may be morally acceptable for Christians under some circumstances, the Episcopal Church's Newark diocese ruled during its annual diocesan convention.

According to Episcopal News Service, the resolution, approved on 27 January after a year-long study by a diocesan task force, states that suicide by a terminally-ill patient is acceptable when "pain is persistent and/or progressive; when all other reasonable means of amelioration of pain and suffering have been exhausted; and when the decision to hasten death is a truly informed and voluntary choice free from external coercion."

The final wording of the resolution, hammered out during a long debate at the convention, was approved by two-thirds of the 600 delegates.

"Assisted suicide is going on all the time," said John S Spong, Bishop of Newark. "What we are doing is bringing the issue out in the open for discussion in the context of our faith tradition."

Bishop Spong said that "after much internal wrestling, I can now say with conviction that I favour both active and passive euthanasia, and I also believe that assisted suicide should be legalised, but only under circumstances that would effectively preclude both self-interest and malevolence."

The resolution puts the diocese at odds with the position held by the national Episcopal Church. A resolution approved by the national General Convention in 1991 states: "It is morally wrong and unacceptable to take a human life in order to relieve the suffering caused by incurable illness."