CedarEthics » Genetic ethics

The Language of God

D Sullivan — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 03:52:00 +0000

I have always thought that Dr. Francis Collins is a pretty cool guy. When I first met him in 1992, I was impressed by his engaging personality, his love of playing the guitar and riding motorcycles, and his unabashed Christian faith.

Dr. Collins is the head of the National Human Genome Research Institute, and directs the Human Genome Project, the $3 billion project to define the DNA sequence of human beings. The first ‘rough draft’ was completed in June, 2000, with the essentially complete sequence revealed in April, 2003.

A geneticist and physician, but also an evangelical Christian, Dr. Collins uses these various perspectives to harmonize science and faith in his best-selling book, The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief (Free Press). He refers to the genetic code as “God’s Instruction Book,” and attests to the creativity and beauty inherent in this most basic blueprint of our biological nature.

After sharing his personal journey into faith, Collins makes a compelling case for his committment to theistic evolution. He criticizes Young-Earth Creationism (YEC) for “ignoring” clear scientific evidence for evolution, and takes Intelligent Design to task for not being “scientific enough.”

Now I do not agree with Francis Collins here. I think he is much too hard on YEC, and too dismissive of Intelligent Design. It seems reasonable that our Creator would allow us to see the evidence of His handiwork in the creation around us.

Yet I appreciate Collins’ love of God, and his willingness to see that human beings are more than their genes:

[The] DNA sequence alone . . . will never explain certain special human attributes, such as the knowledge of the Moral Law and the universal search for God (p. 140).

This common knowledge of God’s Moral Law is why we have such broad agreement on ethical basics across many cultures and worldviews. And the yearning after God can never be ascribed to natural selection and the survival of the fittest.

So read The Language of God with thoughtful care. Despite my disagreements with his evolutionary viewpoint, Francis Collins demonstrates that science and faith are not incompatible. I would be glad to have coffee with him and talk about the things of the Lord. Maybe sometime he’ll even give me a ride on his motorcycle.

Where Do Ethical Rules Come From? (1)

D Sullivan — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 15:27:42 +0000

Our first podcast offers a quick survey of the sources of ethical rules, commentary on two news items, and today’s Tough Ethics Question.

Sources:

Feinberg & Feinberg: Ethics for a Brave New World
Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures
Scotsman News Service report on hybrid embryos

Theme Music: Gli Uccelli (The Birds), Part I. Prelude (Allegro moderato), by Respighi, courtesy of Shockwave Sound

Special Music: Watchstar by 3 Blind Mice

Music Bumpers:

Sugar on My Tongue by Josh Woodward
A Breath Away by Axion to Zeal
The Ending Before the Beginning by Bill deRome

Except as noted, all music courtesy of The Podsafe Music Network.

To listen, just click on the player below.

DNA as Destiny?

D Sullivan — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 15:57:00 +0000

Since the completion of the Human Genome Project, there seems to be a growing sense that everything, including our behavior, can be explained by our genes. According to this idea, there’s a gene (or genes) for addiction, for sexual orientation, even for altruism. Now that we know the human genetic code, we can understand everything about our nature.

Recent work in epigenetics is undermining such determinism. Epigenetics is the study of those influences that act “over and above” genetics. For example, one study showed certain genetic mutations that normally lead to obesity in rats can be turned off by a modification in diet. The same amounts of food were given, but expression of the abnormal gene was blocked by changing the type of food.

In another study performed in mice, more intimate behavior of mothers towards their offspring led to increases in the size of the hippocampal region of the brain, a change that would normally have been ascribed to genetics alone.

The point is that DNA is not destiny. In the words of one writer, “Free will is not only real; to a yet undetermined extent, it can override DNA.” The implications for ethics and behavior are obvious. In contrast to the reductionism of secular science, free will is not an illusion, and our choices matter.

Original article: http://www.tothesource.org/11_22_2006/11_22_2006.htm

A ‘Genetic Outlaw’ Speaks Out

D Sullivan — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 03:16:00 +0000

A law professor in Minneapolis has recently become an “outlaw” in the eyes of some. Her crime? She chose not to have an abortion when she received a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome. Elizabeth Schiltz had her baby anyway, and writes about her experience in Defiant Birth: Women Who Resist Medical Eugenics (2006, Spinifex Press). She also tells of other women who have faced severe pressure to abort because they were carrying a less-than-perfect baby.

Modern technologies have created a crisis of too much information. From the older methods of amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling, to more recent techniques for preimplantation genetic screening of embryos, women have more reasons not to have their babies than ever before. It is well known that almost 50% of fertility centers now permit screening of embryos for gender, with the “wrong” sex discarded. Many centers are able to eliminate the carriers of certain genetic traits, some of which have little or nothing to do with disease.

Primplantation genetic diagnosis, or its modern cousin, preimplantation genetic haplotyping, can now screen embryos for 6,000 different diseases. This has led Professor Schiltz to remark, “I can’t help but see 6,000 new reasons that parents will be branded as sinners or made to feel socially irresponsible for bringing their children into this world.”

What the eminently quotable James Russell Lowell has said about mishaps is surely true of modern biotechnologies: they are like knives that either serve us or cut us, as we grasp them by the blade or by the handle. The ultimate victim of all this will be human nature, sacrificed on the altar of our desire for perfection.

For more about Elizabeth Schiltz: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jul2006/tc20060720_148057.htm