Church of England’s Bioethics Leader Says Human Cloning Is Okay

Plus: Violence in Egypt, and the troubling statistics of Dr. Kevorkian’s murders

Christianity Today December 1, 2000

Church of England paper gives support to human cloning A briefing paper for the Church of England’s Board for Social Responsibility suggests that experiments on cloning human embryos research “may be thought to be as morally acceptable,” and is akin to a heart transplant or fertility treatments. It is not yet official Church of England policy, but was written John Polkinghorne, chairman of the Board’s Science and Medical Technology Committee. Meanwhile, Roman Catholic bishops from England and Wales are taking the opposite view. “We believe that research on cloned human embryos is both immoral and unnecessary. It is immoral because it involves the deliberate creation of new human lives for the sole purpose of extracting stem cells for research,” the bishops said in a statement. Polkinghorne says he only supports cloning for therapeutic purposes, and that actually allowing cloned embryos to mature would be “ethically unacceptable.”

Muslims, Christians stab each other in Alexandria After evening prayers in an Alexandria, Egypt, mosque, several Muslims headed over to a nearby Coptic church to stop work on a church. Reportedly, the Egyptian Interior Ministry had ordered the church to cease its renovations, but the church hadn’t been told. A fight broke out and three Coptic Christians and five Muslims ended up injured, most of them stabbed.

Kevorkian preyed on vulnerable, says study Of the 69 suicidesJack Kevorkian assisted in Oakland County, Michigan, 75 percent would have lived for at least another six months. The vast majorityโ€”67 percentโ€”were divorced, widowed, or never married, suggesting they had no social or family support. Only 35 percent were in pain, and 7 percentโ€”five patientsโ€”had no evidence of disease at all. The findings, by Oakland County medical examiner and longtime Kevorkian critic L.J. Dragovic, were published in the letters section of The New England Journal of Medicine. Kevorkian is serving a 10- to 15-year sentence for second-degree murder. (See more coverage of the study by The Boston Globe, The Detroit News, The Globe and Mail, National Post, and Associated Press)

Related Elsewhere

See our past Weblog updates:

December 7 | 6 | 5 | 4

December 1 | November 30 | 29 | 28 | 27

November 22 | 21 | 20

November 17 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 13

November 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6

November | 3 | 2 | 1 October 31 | 30

October 27 | 26 | 25 | 24 | 23

October 20 | 19 | 18 | 17 | 16

Our Latest

News

Gaza War Strains Bible Scholarsโ€™ Model of Christian Conversation

How Hamasโ€™ October 7 terror attack and Israelโ€™s response exhausted a group of evangelical Bible professors pursuing unity on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Being Human

The Four Spaces of Anxiety with Lisa Cuss

Learning to identify reactivity in ourselves and others.

News

Gordon Students Count Cells, Hoping to Unlock Cancer Mysteries

Cutting-edge microscopy research could explain why some get sick while others donโ€™t.

News

Chinese Christians Push to Adopt Children with Disabilities

After China banned international adoptions, some believers want the Chinese church to step up.

News

Global Methodist Bishops to Dance

The new denomination tussles over its authority structureโ€”but also finds surprising points of unity.ย 

Excerpt

The Chinese Christian Who Helped Overcome Illiteracy in Asia

Yan Yangchu taught thousands of peasants to read and write in the early 20th century.

The Bulletin

A Brief Word from Our Sponsor

The Bulletin recaps the 2024 vice presidential debate, discusses global religious persecution, and explores the dynamics of celebrity Christianity.

News

Evangelicals Struggle to Preach Life in the Top Country for Assisted Death

Canadian pastors are lagging behind a national push to expand MAID to those with disabilities and mental health conditions.

Apple PodcastsDown ArrowDown ArrowDown Arrowarrow_left_altLeft ArrowLeft ArrowRight ArrowRight ArrowRight Arrowarrow_up_altUp ArrowUp ArrowAvailable at Amazoncaret-downCloseCloseEmailEmailExpandExpandExternalExternalFacebookfacebook-squareGiftGiftGooglegoogleGoogle KeephamburgerInstagraminstagram-squareLinkLinklinkedin-squareListenListenListenChristianity TodayCT Creative Studio Logologo_orgMegaphoneMenuMenupausePinterestPlayPlayPocketPodcastRSSRSSSaveSaveSaveSearchSearchsearchSpotifyStitcherTelegramTable of ContentsTable of Contentstwitter-squareWhatsAppXYouTubeYouTube