Would-be cloning journalist: "I am a good old-fashioned Christian"
Michael Guillen, the former ABC News science reporter who was going to test the Raëlians' claim that they'd cloned a human, has been the brunt of a lot of media anger. When there was little to report after Clonaid's initial press conference, reporters cannibalized one of their own. He was portrayed as "flipped out," greedy, untrustworthy, a quackery-pusher, and too credulous of "pseudo-science."

Last week, after Clonaid refused to allow DNA testing of the supposed clone, Guillen, who was already distancing himself from the story, suggested that it all might be "an elaborate hoax." But it may be too late. "The story could tarnish Guillen, a former Harvard professor who left ABC last fall after 14 years," USA Today earlier reported. "After ducking reporters for two weeks, Guillen is trying to salvage his reputation."

As part of that, he talked to Beliefnet about his own beliefs and those of the Raëlians.

"I am a good old-fashioned Christian, and that's what is difficult for people to understand," said Guillen, the son and grandson of Pentecostal pastors. "I believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ and what the Bible says."

That's not something he was eager to make public before issues of cloning surfaced, he says. After the sheep Dolly was cloned, Guillen was part of a roundtable discussion on Good Morning America.

Charlie Gibson asked me what I thought of cloning. I said I was concerned about the implications of what [researcher Ian] Wilmut had done as a scientist—and as a scientist who believes in God. … When I was showering that morning to get ready for the show, I suddenly began to sob uncontrollably. … I realized I had never spoken about my belief in God on ...