Monday, January 19, 2004

GATTACA

Where will this slippery slope lead?

Now I do not want to be an old fuddy duddy caught in the past and afraid of the direction of science. I do believe that we live in a marvelous time, when the power of science has brought many new wonderful conveniences to our lives. This same power however has brought many new ethical questions that must be considered, not only by the Christian, but also by society as a whole. Newsweek's cover article this week MSNBC - Brave New Babies presents the future of Gender selection. This leads however to the question of gene selection as the next logical step in this future, "If couples can request a baby boy or girl, what's next on the slippery slope of modern reproductive medicine? Eye color? Height? Intelligence?" These are questions that must be considered, and it must be determined, how far is responsible. Is a world without the mentally retarded a blessing, or a curse? Is even a pagan world view willing to accept a world where people abort their son in the 24% of errors?
I do support this research to a point, I feel however that we MUST be responsible in how far we go to play God and make babies.
I have an old friend who is involved professionally in this research, she is who sent me the link to this article, I am going to send her an email asking her to read this post and comment on the bigger ethical issues, from the standpoint of a Christian in the industry, I am also sending a link to Rubel Shelly, the respected medical ethicist and minister at the Family of God at Woodmont Hills. to see if he will respond. I will post either response I get.

No comments: