HOMOCENTRISM:

Stem-Cell Hypocrisy (Eleanor Clift, Newsweek)

Many parents, when faced with what to do with these spare embryos would like to donate them to science rather than let them languish indefinitely in storage tanks. The stem-cell bill that passed the House this week and is now before the Senate would free up federal funds for research on these leftover embryos. Bush says he’ll veto the bill. The Christian right’s wrongheaded invocation of religion to restrict science ranks up there with the medieval sanctioning of Galileo because his views conflicted with church doctrine.

The comparison is entirely apt. Galileo's scientific observation about the solar system was completely unobjectionable--it was the conclusions he sought to draw from the observation that were pernicious and ultimately horrificly murderous. Similarly, the idea that stem cells might have medical uses is harmless in itself--it is the moral boundaries that advocates want to violate that require sanction.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 27, 2005 7:07 PM