Psalm127:3 "Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward."

During the last congress of the United States several bills were debated that would abolish and/or restrict the banning of cloning human embryos (human beings). A few short years ago this would not be a debatable issue. However, inour age of "relativism" and failure to recognize absolute truth this crystal clear issue has been muddied by the politicians of our day. Huge pressure from the biotechnical industry and other interest groups blocked legislation that would totally ban the procedure of cloning of human beings in the last congress. This procedure produces a human being embryo) solely for the purpose of "harvesting" (killing) to obtain cells for research. Sadly, some senators adopted the moral "low ground" using the phrase "Therapeutic Cloning" to justify this horrific procedure.

Thankfully, the Arkansas Legislature in this last session banned all human cloning in our state. As caring Christians, we should stand against this injustice and urge congress to ban all human cloning in our nation. We should "...suffer the little children to come" to Him.

"Our children are creations, not commodities." President Geaorge W. Bush

"If any one age really attains, by eugenics and scientific education, the power to make its descendents what it pleases, all men who live after the patients of that power," will be slaves to the "dead hand of the great planners and conditioners." C.S. Lewis

The Biotechnology & Human Dignity Manifesto has been written to underscore our commitment to life as a society and guiding moral principles.

1. The Issue- The debates over human cloning have focused our attention on the significance for the human race of what has been called "the biotech century." Biotechnology raises great hopes for technological progress; but it also raises profound moral questions, since it gives us new power over our own nature. It poses in the sharpest form the question; What does it mean to be hman?

2. Biotechnology and Moral Questions- We are thankful for the hope that biotechnology offers of new treatments for some of the most dreaded diseases. But the same technology can be used for good or ill. Scientists are already working in many countries to clone human beings, either for embryo experiments or for live birth.

In December, 2002 the Raelians, a religious cult that believes the human race was cloned by space aliens, announced that a baby they called "Eve", was the first cloned human. But it is not just the fringe cults that are involved in cloning; that same month, Stanford University announced a project to clone human embryos for medical experimentation. Before long scientist will also be able to intervene in human nature by making inheritable genetic changes. Biotechnology companies are already staking claims to parts of the human body through patents or human genes, cells, and other tissues for commercial purposes. Genetic information about individuals has already made possible advances in diagnosis and treatment of disease, but it may also make those with "weaker" genes subject to discrimination along eugenic lines.

3. The Uniqueness of Humanity and its Dignity- These questions have led many to believe that in biotechnology we meet the moral challenge of the 21st. century. For the uniqueness of human nature is at stake. We believe human dignity to be indivisible: the aged, the sick, the very young, those with genetic diseases - every human being is possessed of an equal dignity; any threat to the dignity of one is a threat to us all. This challenge is not simply for Christians. Jews, Muslims, and members of other faiths have voiced the same concerns. So to have millions of people who intuitively understand that humans are distinct from all other species; at every stage of life and in every condition of dependency they are intrinsically valuable and deserving of full moral respect. To argue otherwise will lead to the ultimate tyranny in which someone determines who is deemed worthy of protection and who is not.

4. Why This Must Be Addressed- As C.S. Lewis warned in his remarkable essay "The Abolition of Man," the new capacities of biotechnology give us power over ourselves and over our own nature. But such power will always tend to turn us into commodities that have been manufactured. As we develop powers to make inheritable genetic changes in human nature, we become controllers of every future generation. It is therefore eital that we undertake a serious national conversation to ensure a thorough understanding of these questions, and their answers, so that our democratic institutions will be able to make prudent choices as public policiy is shaped for the future.

5. What We Propose- We strongly favor work in biotechnology that will lead to cures for diseases and disabilities, and are excited by the promise of stem-cells from adult donors and other ethical avenues of research. We see that around the world other nations have begun to develop ethical standards within which biotech can flourish. We note that Germany, which because of its Nazi past has a unique sensitivity to unethical science and medicine, has enacted laws that prohibit all cloning and other unethical biotech options. We note that the one international bioethics treaty, the European Convention of Human Rights and Biomedicine, outlaws all inheritable genetic changes and has been amended to prohibit all cloning.

We therefore seek as an urgent first step a comprehensive ban on all human cloning and inheritable genetic modification. This is imperative to prevent the birth of a generation of malformed humans (animal cloning has lead to grotesque failures), and the establishment of vast experimental embryo farms with millions of cloned humans.

We emphasize: All human cloning must be banned. There are those who argue that cloning can be sanctioned for medical experimentation - so called "therapeutic" purposes. No matter what promise this might hold - all of which we note is speculative - it is morally offensive since it involves creating, killing and harvesting one human being in the service of others. No civilized state should countenance such a practice. Moreover, if cloning for experiments is allowed, how could we insure that a cloned embryo would not be implanted in a womb? The Department of Justice has testified that such a law would be unenforceable.

We seek legislation to prohibit discrimination based on genetic information, which is private to the individual.

We seek a wide ranging review of patent law to protect human dignity from the commercial use of human genes, cells and other tissue. We believe that such public policy initiatives will help ensure the progress of ethical biotechnology while protecting the sanctity of human life.

We welcome all medical and scientific research that is firmly tethered to moral truth. History teaches that whenever the two have been separated, the consequence is disaster and great suffering for humanity.

(This Biotechnology and Human Dignity Manifesto has been signed by thousands of individuals and organizaions.)

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