YES
The Rt Rev Robert Gillies, Bishop of Aberdeen & Orkney in the Scottish Episcopal ChurchI find myself in disagreement with the Cardinal Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh over stem cells and hybrid embryo research. And
I say this fully respecting his leadership in his particular arena within the Christian Church. But his view is not the only view that can be legitimately given from within a Christian perspective.
When I allow myself to daydream, I think I would like to live in a world where moral dilemmas do not confront me. Where my care, for example, for a relative with one of nature's wickedly crippling diseases, such as Huntington's or muscular dystrophy, could be made complete by their full recovery to active and uninhibited health without recourse to stem-cell therapies. But none of us lives in such an ideal utopia.
Therefore it seems that if health and wellbeing are to come to such sufferers, then the best option will come through stem-cell research, given the current absence of any alternative. On balance, I am reassured by the regulatory frameworks in place in the UK. It certainly seems to be the case that if such work is not permitted here it will be transferred to less scrupulous laboratories in countries that do not have the historic moral framework to which we can appeal in this country. When I see whole families crippled by the increasing debility of a brother, a mother or a child whom they love, I say to myself: "Much as I may not like the thought of hybrid embryo research, God has enabled us to have so much insight into the workings of His creation, then perhaps that is the way we must go to help those most in need of a Christian loving response."
NO
Cardinal Keith O'Brien, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Edinburgh and St Andrews, in his Easter Sunday sermonI think that a fundamental concern of all of our people at this present time and one which we ourselves, as Christians, must take very seriously is that concerning the future of human life itself. What I am speaking of is the process whereby scientists create an embryo containing a mixture of animal and human genetic material.
If I were preaching this homily in France, Germany, Italy, Canada or Australia I would be commending the government for rightly banning such grotesque procedures. However, here in Great Britain I am forced to condemn our government for not only permitting, but encouraging such hideous practices. Our Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has given the government's support to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. It is difficult to imagine a single piece of legislation which more comprehensively attacks the sanctity and dignity of human life. This bill represents a monstrous attack on human rights, human dignity and human life.
One might say that in our country we are about to have a public government endorsement of experiments of Frankenstein proportion – without many people really being aware of what is going on. I contend that matters of such concern to the peoples of our countries should not be left quite simply to a vote by members of Parliament. Along with my colleagues in England and Wales, and my brother bishops here in Scotland, I would maintain that the establishment of a single permanent statutory national bioethics commission is something which would indeed bring considerable benefits.
The full article contains 576 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
