A short essay on seeking truth, Is God a Relative Thinker?
by Chris Astefanous
An interesting article can be found on the American Catholic website by a professor of religion and social ethics at Worchester Polytechnic Institute named Thomas A. Shannon. He outlines quite clearly the moral dilemma associated with stem cell research and the Catholic Church’s stance towards the subject.
The article can be found at http://www.americancatholic.org/Newsletters/CU/ac0102
Abortion is evil. There are two ways that statement will be looked upon. For some people it will make them angry and for others they would simply agree. Stem Cell Research is evil. This statement may be received in a different way. Certainly, Stem Cell research has the potential for evil. Overall, awareness of stem cell research and its effects and ethical implications are not well known by the people of the world. Currently, there is not the same passion involved in the debate. Yet, there should be.
Abortion and Stem Cell research both endanger the sacredness of life. The quintessential question that these two subjects invoke is, when does life begin? Men with much more education, who have thought about this much longer than I, still have not come up with an end-all answer that the other side accepts. So what can I do? Well, I am not really going to debate this topic. It is an integral part of the pro-life versus pro-choice dialogue but arguing the exact point of the creation of life is a moot point when as a whole the undisputable living beings of our world are mistreated and forgotten.
Currently, millions of people are starving in countries around the world. It’s not an exact figure but if one person is starving to death, that is too many. Nearly, the same amount of people is homeless. There are women that feel that abortion is their only choice when they become pregnant. Can you think of anyone around you experiencing depression or loneliness? People are suffering.
The current administration of the United States has spent 6.5 million dollars in a venture to learn about stem cells and their possible health benefits. Yes, that’s a drop in the bucket of our multibillion dollar budget but that amount has the potential for so much good. This raises the question: is research which can potentially accomplish things like curing Alzheimer’s disease, re-growing liver and lungs, and restoring nerve damage, more important than using that money to supporting unwed mother’s, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and giving shelter to the homeless? Obviously, that is not an easy question to answer. Yet, if we pose this question slightly differently perhaps the answer becomes clearer.
Let us say that of those who need treatment for the aforementioned conditions only 50% of them are helped because only that 50% can afford it. Let us also keep in mind that many problems that stem cell research can cure are preventable by living differently, i.e. no smoking, exercising regularly, no drugs, etc. What do you think is a better way to spend the money? The sad truth is even if we have these amazing cures there is no policy which guarantees those that need it will get help. Instead, I propose that a better policy is to help prevent these diseases and care for those who can be taken care of right away without lengthy research.
Humanity has been living with those health conditions for thousands of years. Prevention emphasizes loving oneself and those around you. Whereas, the curative idea our medicinal practitioners employ allows people to do whatever they want because even if they smoke too much or drink too much, everything will still be okay. Technology always grants means to a better tomorrow. The problem often is the irresponsibility or carelessness of the people developing new technology. Stem cell research, simply stated, is a technological means of fixing human carelessness. There are very few absolutes and so it is worth mentioning that Stem cell research will also aid those who just by chance end up with certain ailments that the products of the research can cure. So, in addition to keeping love of your fellow man or woman a priority, a certain responsibility must be attained to worthily use this research.
Stem cell researchers say that learning about stem cells is best done from those cells attainable from an embryo. This is because these cells have the most potential to become any other cell in the human body. Yet, in getting these cells the embryo is destroyed. Hence, the critical issue of hurting human life. An adult stem cell doesn’t have the same flexibility as those attained from an embryo. However, a lot of research can be done with them. It is just not as easy. If money is to be spent it should be on the more difficult research that in no way takes the chance of devaluing life. The driving reason behind not funneling money into the more expensive research is results. Do not forget that this research will help the world as well as make certain people very rich. That is the true reason behind not carrying on research which does not destroy life. It should be obvious that these researchers as well as doctors performing abortions are not doing it for reasons that they see are completely self-sacrificing for the good of man. Abortion doctors do not perform free abortions if the woman cannot pay. Is there true unwavering love in performing an abortion or destroying a fetus for cells?
If the world starts thinking about the importance of truly loving one and other then there won’t be a need for abortion and the question of destroying fetuses for stem cell research would not be asked; it would become more obvious that life is sacred. There should never be cause to destroy life. A life of love would flow into all aspects of human interaction. There wouldn’t be meaningless sex producing unwanted children. There could be a stop to hunger. All peoples of the world could have a house to live in. Perhaps, what I am saying sounds too idealistic, but it is nonetheless true that we all need to learn to love a little better. Idealism is only idealism when we believe that one person can’t make a difference. It has to start somewhere. I would love to hear your thoughts. E-mail me or check out the website message board.
