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Are Scientists Playing God? It Depends on Your Religion Published: November 20, 2007 (Page 2 of 2) Because post-Christians do not necessarily share the biblical view of an omnipotent deity with the sole power to create souls, Dr. Silver says, they are less worried about scientists "playing God" in the laboratory with embryos. In places like California, residents have voted not only to allow embryo cloning for research, but also to finance it. But sometimes the reverence for the natural world extends to embryos, leading to unlikely alliances. When conservative intellectuals like Francis Fukyama campaigned for Congress to ban embryo cloning, some environmental activists like Jeremy Rifkin joined them. A Green Party leader in Germany, Voker Beck, referred to cloned embryonic stem-cell research as "veiled cannibalism." Of course, many critics of biotechnology do not explicitly use religious dogma to justify their opposition. Countries like the United States, after all, are supposed to be guided by secular constitutions, not sectarian creeds. So opponents of genetically modified foods focus on the possible dangers to ecosystems and human health, and committees of scientists try to resolve the debate by conducting risk analysis. The outcome hinges more on beliefs than on scientific data. A study finding that genetically modified foods are safe might reassure traditional Christians in Kansas, but it won't stop post-Christians in Stockholm from worrying about "Frankenfood." Similarly, some leading opponents of embryo research for cloning, like Leon Kass, say they are defending not Judeo-Christian beliefs, but "human dignity." Dr. Kass, former chairman of the President's Council on Bioethics, says the special status of humans described in the Book of Genesis should be heeded not because of the Bible's authority, but because the message reflects a "cosmological truth." It is not so easy, though, to defend supposedly self-evident truths about human nature that are not evident to a large portion of humanity. Conservatives in the House of Representatives managed to pass a bill banning Americans from going overseas for stem-cell treatments derived through embryo cloning. But the bill didn't pass the Senate. It is by no means certain that this type of stem-cell research will ever yield treatments for diseases like Parkinson's, but should that happen, it is hard to see how any Congress - or any law - could stop people from seeking cures. The prospect of cloning children is much more distant, particularly now that researchers are becoming optimistic about obtaining stem cells without using embryos. For now, scientists throughout the world say they do not even want to contemplate reproductive cloning because of the risks to the child. And public-opinion polls do not show much support for it anywhere. Even if human cloning becomes safe, there may never be much demand for it, because most people will prefer having children the old-fashioned way. But some people may desperately want a cloned child - perhaps to replace one who died or to provide lifesaving bone marrow for a sibling - and won't be dissuaded, no matter how many Christians or post-Christians try to stop them. To reach this frontier, they may just go east. Rayilyn Brown Board Member AZNPF Arizona Chapter National Parkinson's Foundation [log in to unmask] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn