Title: Consultation Provides Guidance for Work on ELCA Statement on Genetics ELCA NEWS SERVICE
January 25, 2007
Consultation Provides Guidance for Work on ELCA Statement on Genetics 07-010-MRC
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) called together about 20 scientists and ethicists, politicians and activists, farmers and others here Jan. 20-21 to discern an initial agenda for the work of a task force charged with developing a social statement on genetics and biotechnology for the church. The group of specialists, who gathered for a one- time consultation hosted by ELCA Church in Society, offered some themes a social statement on genetics might address.
Adopted by ELCA churchwide assemblies, social statements are social policy documents that address significant social issues. The 2005 ELCA Churchwide Assembly called for a statement that speaks to "significant theological, ethical, public and pastoral challenges arising from developments in genetics." The appointment of task force members is in progress. The social statement is slated for presentation at the 2011 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.
"Our hope was to pinpoint key issues, provide critical perspectives, suggest themes and help indicate some realistic scope on these matters," said the Rev. Roger A. Willer, director of studies, ELCA Church in Society.
Participants offered individual reflections and discussed: + The moral, legal, social, pastoral and theological challenges posed to society and the church by expanding genetic science and technology, + How these challenges and their anticipated effects could be understood and interpreted by the church as they impact members' lives, the health care system, the natural environment, public policy, legal practices and economic activity, and, + Which of these challenges might be addressed in an ELCA social statement. They also identified some resources from Scripture and the tradition of Christian thought that could serve to frame and direct the development of the social statement.
From the discussion, participants identified several themes that a social statement on genetics could address. According to the Rev. Ronald W. Duty, associate director of studies, ELCA Church in Society, there was a consensus among participants for "an integrative, theological and ethical framework for the whole field of genetics rather than to do a series addressing certain topics within genetics."
According to the group, Duty said, the statement "would need to include special attention to what it means to be human." The statement would "have to do two things. One is to develop a theological understanding of what it means to be human, and the second is to develop it in such a way that the theological understanding can also address other living things (that) also have a genetic inheritance," he said.
"The statement would need to include recognition of a common genetic basis for all of life. That is not to say that humans and bears have the same genetic code, but there's a common genetic inheritance for all of life." The statement would need "to address human manipulation of that genetic inheritance in light of the unprecedented power that our knowledge of the genetic code of various species is giving us," Duty said.
"There are several themes, particularly about humanity, that participants said should also be addressed" in the social statement, said Duty. "Things like our understanding of our Christian vocation, our understanding of human creativity, our understanding of what it means to be created in the image of God, and an understanding of Christian stewardship," he said.
Duty said there was "a lot of agreement" among participants that the statement "should lend itself to being a resource for pastoral guidance, but it should also be a resource that at the same time lends itself to corporate moral deliberation by the church (on) the whole range of genetic issues," he said.
"Genetics is something that surrounds us in our culture," the Rev. Michelle L. Nickodemus, St. John Lutheran Church, Canal Fulton, Ohio, said in an interview. "People are looking for information, and they are looking for ideas about what is right and what is wrong. And, they are looking to the church to help them," she said.
Nickodemus said she hopes the social statement will "create a framework that talks about who we are as human beings and what our role is in God's creation. I put that in a stewardship context. How do we care for the creation and the gifts, skills and abilities God has given to us?" she said.
"Specifically, I think genetic testing is something that will become more and more important in everybody's health care," said Nickodemus, adding that she "would also like to (hear) us speak about genetic manipulation as making changes in our genetics and (those of) crops and animals" and "what that might mean for us in how we care for creation."
"I would like to see a statement that (speaks) to the realities of change in the human predicament and, in particular, the change in human powers collectively that stands behind the genetic revolution," Dr. Per Anderson, director of international education and professor of religion, Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn., said in an interview.
"In this statement, hopefully we will recognize the immensity of the topic. We will recognize how it is a principal shaper of the human future, and we will begin to engage in responsible reflection in a participatory way and in a way that is appropriate to the power that we now wield," Anderson said.
"There's still a way in which raising questions about technology is taboo, it's sort of a sacred cow," he said. "The church has to look at technology as a potentially beneficent power but also a potentially destructive power and keep that reality before us, because certainly the past has indicated that humans have used technology for evil purposes as well as good purposes." - - -
Information about ELCA social statements is at http://www.ELCA.org/SocialStatements on the ELCA Web site. Information about the ELCA social statement on genetics is at http://www.ELCA.org/socialstatements/genetics on the ELCA Web site.
Audio of Nickodemus' comment is at
http://media.ELCA.org/audionews/070123A.mp3 and of Per Anderson's comment at http://media.ELCA.org/audionews/070123B.mp3 on the ELCA Web site.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog