wfn.org | US religious leaders divided over Bush's stem cell decision

[ENS@ecunet.org]

2001-223

US religious leaders divided over Bush's stem cell decision 

     (ENI) President George W. Bush has received both praise and criticism from 
US religious leaders for his decision to allow limited federal funding for 
embryonic stem cell research.

     In his first televised address to the nation since being sworn in as 
president in January, Bush said he would permit federal funding for research for 
a reported 60 "lines" of stem cells already created from embryos. 

     He also supported funding for non-embryonic stem cell research, such as on 
cells derived from adults. But he refused to allow federal funding for research 
that would result in any further "harvesting" of stem cells from tens of 
thousands of embryos now frozen at US fertility clinics.

     Stem cells are cells that are capable of growing into different kinds of 
human cells, such as liver, skin or nerve cells. A human embryo, a few days old, 
can be used to create a "reservoir" of stem cells, which is called a stem cell 
line. Many scientists argue that embryonic stem cell research can help in medical 
battles against such diseases as juvenile diabetes, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. 
However, removing stem cells destroys the embryo, and the issue therefore has 
serious ethical implications.

     Bush's decision has been strongly criticized by US Roman Catholic leaders, 
but has received support from mainstream Protestants, and from the leader of the 
conservative Christian Coalition.

     The president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop Joseph 
A. Fiorenza, likened the existing stem cells to "ill-gotten goods" that had made 
the US government complicit in what he called "wrongdoing.'' "The trade-off 
[Bush] has announced is morally unacceptable," Fiorenza said in a statement. "The 
federal government, for the first time in history, will support research that 
relies on the destruction of some defenseless human beings for possible benefit 
to others."

     However, the decision was praised by a key figure in Bush's own 
denomination, the United Methodist Church, one of the biggest Protestant 
denominations in the United States. In a statement issued on August 10, Jim 
Winkler, chief executive of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, 
said that the decision "provides a space to explore the potential of embryonic 
stem cell research without destroying [any more] human embryos."

     The United Methodist Church has not taken a formal position on the issue of 
embryonic stem cell research. However, the denomination has called for a ban on 
cloning human embryos, as well as on research that it said "generates waste 
embryos."

     Pat Robertson--president of the conservative Christian Coalition, founder of 
the Christian Broadcasting Network and a one-time Republican presidential 
candidate--said Bush had provided "an elegant solution to the thorny issue of 
stem cell research by firmly protecting the rights of the unborn while allowing 
potentially life-saving research to go forward."

     Larry Rasmussen, who teaches social ethics at Union Theological Seminary in 
New York City, told ENI that the decision on stem cell research and the debate 
that surrounded it were evidence of a "new phase" in the field of social ethics. 

     "When you work on the basic building blocks of life itself, that ratchets up 
the social consequences considerably," Rasmussen said.

     However, "social justice questions," such as the issue of access to any 
medical advances derived from stem cell research, had not been heard in the 
current debate, said Rasmussen, a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in 
America (ELCA).

     "Is the market going to determine who has the access to these medical 
advances?" Rasmussen asked. "You also don't have the voices of minority 
communities in the circles of bioethics, where questions of race, class and 
gender are not being asked."

     The fact that a number of stem cell lines were owned by medical companies, 
he added, might mean that the field was "wide open for corporate funding" of stem 
cell research, something that could lead to new ethical questions.