Church warns cell scientists not to play God

[Ed Barrow]

Source: Associated Press

Catholic Church officials said Friday that the recently created first synthetic cell could be a positive development if correctly used, but warned scientists that only God can create life.

Vatican and Italian church officials were mostly cautious in their first reaction to the announcement from the United States that researchers had produced a living cell containing manmade DNA. They warned scientists of the ethical responsibility of scientific progress and said that the manner in which the innovation is applied in the future will be crucial.

"It's a great scientific discovery. Now we have to understand how it will be implemented in the future," Monsignor Rino Fisichella, the Vatican's top bioethics official, told Associated Press Television News.

"If we ascertain that it is for the good of all, of the environment and man in it, we'll keep the same judgment," he said. "If, on the other hand, the use of this discovery should turn against the dignity of and respect for human life, then our judgment would change."


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100521/ap_on_re_eu/eu_catholic_church_synthetic_cell

[FiveGoodMen]

1. "only God can create life"

What they're afraid of is that it isn't really so.

[Dreamer Tatum]

3. Then I guess you eat heaping platefuls of frankenfood? nt

[Orrex]

14. That would be an interesting discussion to have.

Even more so if it were relevant...

[boppers]

36. LOL, I guess you think specific genetic combinations are "Holy", then?

Good luck with that kind of racism.

[Ian David]

37. I just sacrificed a lamb on an altar to J. Craig Venter. n/t

[IndianaGreen]

2. This from a Church that has zero credibility!

The Holocaust is proof that there is no God!

[saigon68]

30. Pedophile child rapists

[anachro1]

4. I just bet the Church is struggling

to discover just HOW they can actually fuck a stem cell.

[Joe Bacon]

59. They just manipulate the cells to make a 10 year old boy.

I'm sure a lot of kinky priests are just waiting to have a boy manufactured just for them!

[napi21]

5. What exactly do they think these scientists will make from

these cells?

[AmericaIsGreat]

8. a virus that makes you stop believing in Catholicism?

That's my guess, anyway.

[napi21]

29. Actually I suspect they're afraid the sci's will create a

real Frankenstein. A person that appears to be human but not created by God.

[BadgerKid]

39. More like evidence contradicting Catholicism. n/t

[Aslanspal]

6. Before the Ink was dry on this story ...Religion goes to war with Science

You know Science does not wake up each morning trying to devise ways to war with religion they just want to do science and research....but religion every time attacks science...why is that??? stop it.

[Posteritatis]

54. I'm not sure I see an attack here

The "only God can create life" thing is just generic doctrine; any first-year philosophy undergraduate could address either side of that claim towards this in a variety of ways to the point where it's almost meaningless.

The bulk of the rest of the statement boils down to "this is really really cool, just please be careful with it," which is plenty more reasonable than a lot of the reactions to Venter's announcement that I've seen on DU and other sites.

[DavidDvorkin]

7. Why is this even reported?

The ramblings of a bunch of zanies. Why do the media give it any play?

[Auggie]

9. The Church warns scientists not to play "God" but ignores health insurance executives

[Oregone]

10. If they were playing God, theyd lie down in a hole and die

Letting the world rot all around them.

[Speck Tater]

11. Breaking: Catholic church warns Galileo not to point his telescope at the sky. nt

[pasto76]

12. Blah blah blah blabbity blah blah blah

that what I hear from the Church.

SGT PASTO

[Xipe Totec]

17. Oh, I thought you were reenacting the Tower of Babel

Little did we know that the one language was science...



1.- And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

2.- And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.

3.- And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.

4.- And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

5.- And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

6.- And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

7.- Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.

8.- So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

9.- Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

- Genesis 11:1-9

[Orrex]

13. I'd prefer that the church's God not play God, either

How shocking that the church is standing in the way of scientific progress and understanding. This is especially surprising given their millennia-long history of supporting the theoretical sciences.

[krabigirl]

15. Lol, why do they think the scientists even care what they think?

[SoapBox]

16. How about we warn you not to "diddle" children!

Hey, Popey and crew...

Shut up...don't talk about anything.

Your cult is full of pervs and weirdos.

Go away.

[and-justice-for-all]

18. the church hates progress and loves suffering....

seeing how they can not end suffering with their magic and dogma, they would then prefer that the suffering continue.

WE DO NOT NEED THEIR APPROVAL FOR JACK SHIT! Monsignor Rino Fisichella: FUCK OFF.

[Socal31]

19. "Church reverses position on creating life, after scientists create 11yr old boy out of thin air"

Headline from 2025.

[NorthCarolina]

25. I gotta admit, that one made me laugh!

:rofl:

[Ian David]

38. LOL! n/t

[Roland99]

52. Zing!

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[DebbieCDC]

21. Scientists to church:

Keep your god out of our science.

[salguine]

22. Scientists warn Church not to fuck any children. FUCK YOU CATHOLIC CHURCH.

[adnelson60087]

23. And the reason we should give a damn about their opinions...??

These guys cannot keep from molesting kids and protecting the guilty. Don't begin to act like an agent of ethical concern. I'll trust 90% of scientists any day over these guys.

[undeterred]

24. Public warns Catholic priests not to "play doctor" with children.

[saigon68]

31. They actually played Pocket Man

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pocket_Man

[C_U_L8R]

26. MAybe the church needs to stop playing god

who do these mortal priests think they are?
They speak for god? That's debatable.
More likely they speak for themselves and
the self-interests of their 'organization'.

[greiner3]

27. And the church immeditely after;

Declares all such cells human and to kill one is akin to abortion.

[midnight]

28. Right now there have been complications with dna being planted at crime scenes.

Israeli scientists have been working on a test that shows when dna is manufactured. Things should start getting interesting....

[depakid]

32. The Catholic church, probably within this decade, is going to be proven wrong again

[Yeahyeah]

33. "playing god".hilarious.

[msanthrope]

35. Irony alert, yes? n/t Welcome to DU!

[Dappleganger]

34. Well if God didn't want this to happen...

LOL, the Catholic Church's god is pretty weak, isn't it?

[anthroguy101]

40. You know where this could lead to...

Superviruses. Think about it.

Other than that, we could make our own homosexual organisms and prove them false on that issue. We could also make a human-like animal.

[Decoy of Fenris]

41. Church to Scientists: Don't play God, God doesn't like it.

Scientists to Church: Prove it.

[Dutch]

42. An eminently sensible, rational response from the RC Church.

Which contrasts sharply with some of the hysterical, red herring-riddled responses it seems to be meeting with here.

[Decoy of Fenris]

43. Forgive the skepticism.

Things like this...

"If, on the other hand, the use of this discovery should turn against the dignity of and respect for human life, then our judgment would change."

... seem highly subjective. The Church would get to arbitrarily decide what, exactly, would turn against the "dignity of and respect for" human life. I'm willing to grant that it's better than their normal responses, but it still rankles me a bit that the Vatican seems to believe that it is the supreme exemplar of morality and ethical acts.

[Posteritatis]

55. Would people here be any less subjective about something like that?

Every time biotech or anything related comes up on this site people wet themselves all over the place about it. As for their "our judgement would change" line, so would mine if spinoffs of Venter's project went off in harmful or unethical directions. My judgement on those would be subjective as well, and there aren't many people who can honestly say theirs wouldn't be.

I've got minimal love for the Catholic Church in any number of ways that aren't simply their, ah, not having minimal love in inappropriate circumstances, but a lot of their views on biotechnology are more in tune with mine than a lot of people in my general area of the political spectrum. Much as DU prefers to treat anything vaguely Abrahamic as an evil monolith, the bulk of the church (of which American Catholics are a miniscule portion) is pretty far removed from the Southern Baptist Convention or the like.

[daleo]

44. Don't worry, church

Even Cylons got religion.

[surrealAmerican]

45. In other news: Scientists warn church ...

... not to play biologist.

[Odin2005]

46. Go fuck off, you superstitious morons.

[harry_pothead]

47. Can scientists warn the church not to play pedophile?

[Duer 157099]

48. "Now we have to understand how it will be implemented in the future,"

Good luck with that. Like the scientists have to answer to you? Have to explain it to YOU? Like YOU are even capable of understanding it? Like you don't understand everything only through the prism of your religion?

And talk about "playing God" -- you guys need to stop playing "dress up" with your silly costumes!

Keep your religious fingers out of my science!

[POAS]

49. "The Church" copyrighted playing God, they own the rights!

[NYC Liberal]

50. All medicine is "playing god" then, no? I mean if someone becomes ill,

shouldn't we just let things take their course instead of using medicine and surgery?

Also, if "only god can create life" then there should be nothing for them to worry about.

[Crowman1979]

51. This is coming from a religion that told scientists during middle ages to repent or die.

Galileo being an example.

[Posteritatis]

56. Hope your ancestors five hundred years ago had flawless lives. (nt)

[treestar]

53. Or else what?

Who do they think they are warning anybody about anything?

[ProudDad]

57. As a non-theist, I don't give a shit what any church says...

They're all fact-challenged hypocrites anyway...every fucking one of them...

[AdHocSolver]

58. Consider that most scientific research is funded and directed by the military-industrial complex.

Scientific research has brought us HFCS, BPA, and drug-resistant pathogens, among other problems.

However you may dislike the way the Catholic Church phrased its warning, the warning itself is perfectly valid.

[Bert]

60. Talk about projection

Who is really playing god? those who believe in rationality and work for the greater good? How about those who believe in fairy tales and claim to have a pipeline to god that usually ends up as a call for money and power for themselves? I think the church should just quit trying to make believe it is anything other than a leech on society and a plague upon the earth.