Posted on 02/24/2007 10:40:48 AM PST by markomalley
Perhaps, but...what would be at the end of the slippery slope? Do you think that genetic engineering would lead to the kind of abuses the Nazi's committed? What are the grave consequences of changing ourselves through genetics, that do not occur when we change ourselves through surgery or cosmetics?
Is it simply a matter of degree, or is there something fundementally different about changing our genes?
An interesting point. But to me, that seems to be more of a practical concern rather than a moral one.
Compared to other forms of permanent alteration that will affect the future - eye surgery, for example - what makes genetic engineering uniquely immoral?
For one thing, scientists know so little about genetics to begin with, that it's treading on very dangerous ground messing with genes, the very components that make a human being who and what they are. There will be unintended consequences.
Another issue is that it reduces the child to a commodity to be bought or sold based on desirability. It cheapens life. *Oh, you're not prefect. We don't want you.* Then what do you do with this imperfect child? Destroy the embryos because they didn't meet our qualifications for a *perfect* child? Killing children like squashing fruit flies is not the answer.
I know a man who was born handicapped and his parents were told to institutionalize him because he would never amount to anything. The man is a genius even with physical handicaps. And look at Stephen Hawking. Another example of someone who would have not been *chosen* because of his genetics.
And when you mess with genes, who says it only affects the physical?
*That's not good enough. I can do better.*
How to spit in God's face.
But to me, that seems to be more of a practical concern rather than a moral one.
From a practical standpoint, what do you do with your errors? Where are you going to get your first guinea pigs? Let's say a discovery is made one week after you've done the procedure, that your "fix" creates additional errors, while leaving the original thing you meant to fix unrepaired? Do you throw it in the scrap heap & start over?
There are no 'perfect' children. Some challenges may be more visible or frightening than others.
A SIL of mine did every Search-and-destroy test on her fetuses that the doctors could provide. As her children have grown, one isn't as tall as desired, one freckles more than is fashionable, all 3 drink like fish. What did she gain?
I think she lost the joy and wonder of meeting and falling in love with new souls who had much to teach her. Instead, she raised survivors, who all are in search of love.
I had 2 'suspicious' pregnancies. I declined all tests, content to do my best to rise to the challenges that life presents... All four of my children have traits and personalities I never could have imagined. I fall in love with them over and over again.
The biggest gift they have given me (besides much love) is endless humility. Human beings are unfathomable! :-)
An absurd question considering how He dealt with Onan.
Poor kids will never be good enough. No wonder they drink. There's nothing so sad as a child whose own parents don't love him or her as they are. Nothing is so devestating to a child.
The pity is that they are all wonderful people. But her mind was set against them while she was pregnant. She and the doctors kept looking for problems, preparing to abort them if necessary.
She never got to bond with them before they were born. Sadly, it shows now.
I just hope that when they have kids they can create a different mind set.
I guess I should add that I would see those sorts of emotional issues, magnified by many magnitudes if we ever set about deliberately creating 'designer children' as a society.
What do we do if a kid with frizzy hair sneaks through?
Who gets to define what is acceptable and what is a fault worth dying for?
Will we have retroactive abortions?
Who is wise enough at 20 or 30 or even 40 to know what traits to aim for and what to avoid?
I'll leave it all in God's hands. I love surprises. :-) That's why I have 4 children, and they still surprise me ever day! LOL
That's probably true, at least for the immediate future. Of course, in 50 or 100 years, our knowlege may increase to the point where the risk of side effects is minimal. In any case, the lack of knowlege is a practical concern, not a moral one. I can understand why a doctor or the FDA might advise against genetic engineering. I would like to know why the Pope is condemning it.
Another issue is that it reduces the child to a commodity to be bought or sold based on desirability. It cheapens life. *Oh, you're not prefect. We don't want you.* Then what do you do with this imperfect child? Destroy the embryos because they didn't meet our qualifications for a *perfect* child? Killing children like squashing fruit flies is not the answer.
Destroying children, whether perfect or not, is immoral. No confusion on that one for me. That's why I specified in my hypothetical example that the genetic engineering used would not involve the destruction of embryos.
To oppose genetic engineering because of how it is done is one thing; to oppose it because of what it does is something different.
I know a man who was born handicapped and his parents were told to institutionalize him because he would never amount to anything. The man is a genius even with physical handicaps.
Of course. I'm not suggesting that the handicapped don't have value or that they can't lead meaningful lives. But suppose that man's parents had been offered a procedure to correct the his handicap as a small child. Would it have been wrong for them to have cured him of his handicap as a small child? What if they had cured him when he was just a tiny embryo?
And when you mess with genes, who says it only affects the physical?
The physical as opposed to what else? The mental? The spiritual?
Baptist ping
What else? Man is all of those. Science has no idea what they are and what controls them.
bump
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