The Mainline Protestant's View of Human Cloning

Excerpted from "Cloning Human Beings: Religious Perspectives on Human Cloning"-- a commissioned paper by Courtney S. Campbell, Ph.D. Oregon State University

The religious witness of mainline Protestantism focuses on questions of peace and social justice rather than the right to life. The seven principal denominations designated as “mainline” Protestant (American Baptist, Christian Church [Disciples of Christ], Episcopal, Evangelical, Lutheran, United Methodist, Presbyterian, United Church of Christ) claim approximately 17% of the U.S. religious population. These denominations have been very active in developing ecclesiastical position statements and convening working groups to address theological and ethical issues in biomedicine. Moreover, ecclesiastical leaders and theologians have been prominent in bringing such issues to the consideration of more global bodies, such as the National Council of Churches in Christ and the World Council of Churches. However, the primacy of freedom of conscience in Protestantism means that theologians engaged in biomedical ethics may not agree with the views of denominational bodies or their theological peers. This summary will reflect this theological diversity rather than resolve it. Creative Freedom. An important question within mainline Protestant thought is whether there are any adequate precedents to guide ethical reflection for the advent of reproductive and genetic technologies, or what one scholar has described as the “new genesis.” A first position affirms that we are free to engage in exploratory ethics because human destiny lies in the future rather than being determined by the past. Theological ethics begins by God giving human beings a future to shape and create in partnership with God. Genetic and reproductive technologies express the creative dimensions of the imago Dei insofar as they promote human dignity and welfare. Within this understanding, no theological principle stands as a bar to human cloning. The Christian vocation of freedom warrants the pursuit of scientific freedom. However, freedom is not unlimited but is to be used to fulfill divine purposes. Moreover, freedom has a correlative obligation of accountability. Thus, regulation of research is justified especially given the current imprecision of the technology and the consequent loss of animal or human embryonic life. While researchers should ensure respect for the pre-embryo, and adopt procedures to minimize discarded embryos, the efficacy of such research is ultimately an issue of scientific procedure rather than of theological principle. Even though sin will manifest itself in an ongoing disparity between a designed future and its reality, Christians are given permission to “sin bravely” in the pursuit of progress. Thus, if further research on human cloning can establish a reasonable expectation of benefits, and ensure human dignity, then both research and eventually human cloning seem warranted. The prospects of private, entrepreneurial interests establishing various cloning services could, however, culminate in diminished dignity. Research Criteria. A second position distinguishes between the ethics of cloning research and the ethics of cloning human beings for purposes of transfer and birth. Research on cloned embryos can be justifiable, using the precedent of current standards for the regulation and protection of human and animal subjects. However, cloning of humans involves creation after our image rather than God’s and can lead to power over humans rather than enhanced choices. Moreover, this position criticizes the appeal to “human” dignity as a warrant for cloning as too global and impersonal. Decision makers should instead focus on the interests of children, that is, on those persons living in the future created for them. At a minimum, society should engage in a sustained and substantive debate on the possible benefits and the likely harms of human cloning, with a burden of proof imposed on the research community to establish a compelling case for the beneficial and therapeutic uses of the technology. Research Moratorium. Public discourse is necessary but insufficient: A third position supports implementing a long-term moratorium on cloning research until the scientific, ethical, and social issues have been fully debated. Without a moratorium, it is entirely likely that new research discoveries could outpace discussion and thereby change the issues under debate. Both issues of cloning research on pre-embryos and cloning human beings should be subjected to ethical and theological scrutiny as well as tests of political and legal feasibility. Christians bring to this social discussion an emphasis on human creative possibility, to be sure, but also a “hermeneutics of suspicion” (Nelson) that stresses human fallibility, misplaced self-confidence, and the risks of arrogance. Prohibitions. A fourth position places cloning within the context of positive eugenics and offers a critique of both research process and product based on the ethical precedents and prohibitions established with respect to genetic enhancements. In particular, cloning raises issues about the substantive characteristics desired in a person, the control of enormous powers of manipulation by a very small circle of experts, and whether human life will assume instrumental rather than inherent value.

Buy The Clone Shopping Network, the new biotech thriller that features human cloning

Back to Tom W. Miller Home

About Tom W. Miller

What's Next

Read an Excerpt from The Clone Shopping Network

Articles on Human Cloning

Reviews of Books about Human Cloning

Links to Human Cloning and More

Email Tom W. Miller