Shortly after his election Pope John Paul II began sponsoring seminars of distinguished scientists at his summer residence. Religion and science, he said, complement one another. Science gives religion new insight into God's creation. Religion can help science address troubling new questions.
Some of these questions are posed by genetic studies. Scientists are probing the human genome seeking ways to prevent or to cure crippling or lethal diseases. They have even found ways of selecting a baby's gender. Faith can bring both comfort and caution to this scientific project.
Scientists are sometimes accused of "playing God." The accusation is simplistic, a substitute for careful thinking. Faith teaches us that creation is an ongoing process and God has invited us to share in it. "Subdue the earth," God said. This was an invitation to develop our world's possibilities, including its human possibilities.
We do so when we search the human genome for the cause of Alzheimer's disease or when we develop crops that can survive in the dusty lands of Ethiopia or Sudan.
Faith also reminds us of the sacredness of human life from its earliest appearance. When does it appear: after birth, in the second trimester, at conception? The Church insists that we treat the human embryo itself as human. Yes, arguments can be made against this position. But in doubt, human life commands our vote. A hunter does not fire into underbrush until he is sure he is firing at a deer and not a hunter.
Scientists are as capable of operating on assumptions as anyone else. Some of them see the human embryo as simply a clump of cells. The Church points out that that cluster can develop into only one thing -- a human person; and so we resist subjecting to experimentation or destruction. Our stand here is part of our commitment as Christians to protect the poorest, the most vulnerable among us.
68% of the American people disapprove of using genetics for gender selection. The numbers soar when a pregnancy is terminated because the embryo is the wrong gender. In both these cases the Church stands firmly with the majority.
The author of Androgogy is Rev. George J. Dyer, S.T.D. Formerly Professor of Theology and Academic Dean at St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein, Illinois, he is the founding Editor of Chicago Studies, a theological journal, and he is the author of The Three Minute Theologian and The Catholic Educator.