Newfrontiers : What does it mean to be human?

What does it mean to be human?

This question has recently been at the heart of a debate in the House of Commons. Roger Smith (Downham Way Family Church) outlines the main arguments in the debate, and examines a Biblical response to them and other current issues.

The UK Parliament has been considering the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. This will have completed its passage into law in a few months time.

There are many ethical challenges in this proposed new law. It may legalise the creation of animal/human hybrid embryos, so that they can then be used for research. The justification for this move is the shortage of human eggs for research and the promise of life-saving clinical treatments at some unspecified time in the future.

But doesn't this idea cross Biblical ethical boundaries?

Surely it undermines the fundamental truth of humans being made in the ‘image of God’¹ and doesn't it breach the prohibition² on ‘mixing kinds’?

Does the good ‘end’ of treating disease justify this unethical ‘means’?

We are told that these hybrid embryos are necessary so that further research can be undertaken on embryonic stem cells. The sad truth is that the creation of these animal/human hybrids is totally unnecessary. Scientists have been trying for years to produce clinical treatments from human embryonic stem cells - destroying vast numbers of human embryos in the process, and to date, not a single embryonic stem cell line has been produced from cloned human embryos, whilst there are over 70 conditions that are currently being treated successfully using adult or umbilical cord blood stem cells.³

Saviour Siblings

Anyone who has read Jodi Picoult's book My Sister’s Keeper will be well aware of the emotional and some of the medical issues regarding so-called ‘saviour siblings’. Reproductive technologies now give us the option to select an embryo that can be grown into a perfect tissue donor for an already existing sibling. This is a very controversial process. The biology is already established and relatively straightforward, but the issue of creating a child as a ‘means to an end’ rather than as ‘an end in itself’ seems morally dubious. Also, the process of selection involves the creation and subsequent destruction of many embryos that do not meet the tissue match criteria.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, as approved by MPs in the Commons, allows ‘tissue typing’ for the creation of saviour siblings so that cord blood can be transplanted and also legalises the same process in order to provide any tissue for transplant. This could lead to some highly contentious requests for transplants, later in life. Is it right for us to create ‘made to measure’ children - children conceived for the good of another person rather than for their own sake? My Sister’s Keeper explores some of these issues and I can highly recommend this book. This leads us on to the wider topic of children born to the design specifications of their parents.

Designer Babies

In the UK today there is increasing pressure for parents to be allowed to make a growing range of choices in the selection of the genetic makeup of their future child. It is understandable that parents may wish to select embryos that do not carry genes that would pass on an inheritable disease, but to make such selection available for features such as gender or mental or physical attributes would be more difficult to justify. As John Wyatt, Professor of Neonatal Paediatrics at University College has said:

‘Modern parents are in danger of being control freaks. We want to control and design our children to fulfil our deepest desires. We want to live out our unfulfilled expectations in them. But a Biblical perception of parenthood teaches us that we must let go. Although we have a responsibility to protect, nurture and educate, we must also respect our children.’ ⁴

Enhancing the Original

There are people who think that God’s original design of human beings can and should be improved upon, or ‘enhanced’.

‘Enhancement refers to the ‘improvement’ of human performance, appearance or behaviour through genetic science, medicine, and technology’⁵

Do we want to improve the memories and intellectual capacity of our doctors - the eyesight of our military pilots or the strength and stamina of our soldiers?⁶
Do we want to design robots with increasing humanoid characteristics, and can we ultimately control their development – especially if they are designed with artificial intelligence?

We already allow some forms of human enhancement e.g. cosmetic surgery and it seems as though performance enhancing drugs are increasingly used by sports men and women.

But what do we think about the possibility of ‘genetic’ enhancement? Could the DNA in our cells be altered to change the behaviour of those cells? Is it possible to improve on the Creator’s original model? Could we have performance enhanced athletes rather than performance enhancing drugs?

The superficial attraction for the individual of this is obvious. But what of the possible safety issues? We already know that athletes who abuse drug therapies risk both short and long-term adverse side-effects. How could we be sure that any genetic enhancement would bring long-term benefit? Equally, how could we be sure that future generations would want to inherit these enhanced genes? There could easily be unforeseen, negative consequences.

Christian Thinking

So, does Christian theology have any contribution to make in a world of increasing pace and breadth in scientific advance? Is the Bible relevant anymore in our technology driven 21st Century?

Christians have been at the forefront of scientific discovery and development for centuries. The quest for scientific and technological improvements is part of our God-given nature. Right at the beginning of time, we find God creating everything out of nothing

‘In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. Genesis 1: 1-2 ESV

He also created human beings with joint responsibility, together with Him, to develop and care for this amazing creation

‘The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.’ Genesis 2: 15 ESV

Much technological development has actually contributed to our ability to fulfil the God-given mandate. However, it has always been possible for people to overstep the mandate and to seek glory for themselves, rather than for their Creator. Modern day scientists who live without a sense of responsibility to God, are in danger of creating their own ‘Tower of Babel’.⁷

C. S. Lewis in his book ‘The Abolition of Man’ written in 1943, in the midst of the Second World War, argued that the purpose of science and medicine is to serve the human good. He said that as science ceases to serve human beings by making them into scientific products, our very humanity is diminished in that process – prophetic words indeed!

In conclusion, let me give the last word to Professor John Wyatt. In an effort to apply a Christian worldview to these issues of scientific improvement of the original design, he uses the analogy of the ethics of professional art restorers. He argues that the intention of the original creator or artist must guide any restoration or enhancement.

‘If we see our bodies as wonderful, original artistic masterpieces reflecting the design of God, but marred by biological and moral flaws, what is our responsibility to this masterpiece and what can we do with it?
Ethical intervention is that which seeks to protect, maintain and restore the original, operating within the parameters fixed by the artist. Unethical restoration is that which seeks to enhance, alter or improve the original design.’⁸

We would do well to remember this when considering a way forward in scientific research and development.

Footnotes

Genesis 1 v 26-28
Genesis 1 v 11, 12, 21, 24, 25; 7 v 2-3
www.stemcellresearch.org
‘Matters of Life and Death’ Inter Varsity Press 1998
www.bioethics.ac.uk/index.php (An altogether excellent resource website)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7351314.stm
Genesis 11 v 1-4
Wyatt J. Matters of Life and Death IVP 1998 pp 86-88