The Christian Response to
Emerging Technologies
It’s no longer just about abortion. Destruction of human children at the embryonic level has now expanded beyond research laboratories to be enshrined as a “procreative right” of infertile couples seeking to become parents. Efforts to promote a culture of life in the 21st century require the development of a clear and consistent message to alert the culture to the dangers that lie ahead if the definition of “person” is allowed to be eroded from its historical meaning. Personhood is the clear battleground of the pro-life movement in the 21st century and emerging technologies are the new adversaries being faced.
Modern Christians must develop a Bible-based approach to scientific research and medical treatments.
Because fertility clinics cannot possibly supply the large number of embryos needed, the biotech industry has resorted to a transgenic solution: combining human and animal DNA to form a human-animal hybrid known as a “chimera.”
Questions to Ask
Stem Cell Research: The Benefits and the Dangers
Some polls have said that the American people support embryonic stem cell research, but the results are deceiving. The results of a poll depend on the questions being asked, and these polls didn’t ask the right questions. Instead of asking, “Do you think we should support research that could cure diabetes,” we should be asking “Do you support your tax dollars being used for medical research that would kill early human embryos?” Polling conducted by International Communications Research, and their results were significant: 70% oppose embryonic stem cell research, when they understand what it really is.
Destruction of human children at the embryonic level has now expanded beyond research laboratories to be enshrined as a “procreative right” of infertile couples seeking to become parents. It is not uncommon to create between 15 and 20 embryonic children at one time and then, through the process of selective reduction or the eugenic practice of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), to kill all but one or two of those children.
As tragic as it may be for a couple to struggle with infertility, when did it become acceptable for a couple’s “right to parent” to supersede another’s right to life? Infertility is not a justification for murder. Neither is infertility untreatable. A pro-life couple must be fully informed of all options and consequences before embarking on a path that assures the IVF clinics and biotech industry more human subjects to sacrifice on the altar of technology.
Educational Resources from GRTL
Transhumanism
Pro-Life Means Pro-Human
Transhumanism is a term symbolized by H+ and often used as a synonym for “human enhancement.” It has developed into an international and cultural movement supporting the use of sciences and technologies to enhance human mental and physical abilities and aptitudes. Transhumanism seeks to remove undesirable aspects of the human condition such as: stupidity, suffering, disease, aging, and involuntary death.
It is no longer enough to be pro-life; we have now entered a time when we must be pro-human. Education about the full implications of these emerging sciences is a key to be able to directly confront these assaults on humanity.
Digging Deeper
What is Genosim?
Will the movement toward eugenic perfection one day put those people deemed “genetically inferior” in the same place African slaves were when they were deemed “racially inferior”? Time will certainly tell us—sooner, rather than later.
The term genoism was coined by Andrew Niccol, director and writer of the 1997 film Gattaca, in which it was used to describe unethical and illegal genetic discrimination. To the average movie-goer, genoism seemed far-fetched in 1997. But today, this reality is closer than people may realize.