Hi George
Of course Tito's flight is a very symbolic event (lucky so and so, wish
I
had a spare $20
million). Even here (and on the BBC) it rates highly - but as a
science-tech story. the
genetically modifed babies was front page headline news, more important
that politics or
sport.
I agree, we need to emphasise theologically that GM humans, clones, etc,
are fully human,
fully in the image of God, and communicate this message to Christians,
as
well as non
Christians. Otherwise we soon be accepting the existance of various
classes of people,
based on their genetic makeup, and treating them accordingly. But we
need
to then explain
very clearly what we mean by the image of God, what we mean by the God
given authority to
humanity as stewards of creation, and how the issues of ethics and
justice
can be
addressed to such complex issues (like, do a small number of women in
the
wealthiest
country on earth really need to have their wishes for children gratified
by
application of
highly expensive technology when millions die through preventable
diseases?).
Jon
george murphy wrote:
> I shouldn't suggest that there has been no mention of this in
the
US - it is
> e.g. in CNN's US sci-tech news, though ranking below Dennis Tito
there.
> The concern about treating genetically modified children as
not
fully human is
> a very realistic. It will become even more so with things like
deliberate
alteration
> of the nuclear germline (as distinguished from scatter-gun additions
to
mDNA) and
> cloning. & like it or not, somebody is going to do those things
eventually.
> I think that the decision has to be made now, before that
happens, that
> individuals from genetically modified germlines and clones are to be
treated as fully
> human. (I refer to their legal and theological status - two different
things of
> course. OTOH we can't simply "decide" what the attitude of the
general
populace will
> be.) If this isn't done we are setting ourselves up for some serious
problems. That
> doesn't in itself mean that doing such things is to be approved or
encouraged - though
> it would tend to remove an obstacle from such work.
>
> Shalom,
>
> George
>
> George L. Murphy
> http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
> "The Science-Theology Interface"
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