Medical Ethics 2- Christianity

• Most Christians generally think that the act of suicide is wrong, however nowadays they understand that someone who commits suicide is not wicked but instead deeply unhappy.
• Therefore, they do not all believe that the person will go to hell, like they used to.
• Instead, many Christians volunteer in charities which are aimed to improve peoples lives and stop them turning to suicide.

FOR:

• Some Christians, believe that using animals for medical research is okay because in the bible it makes references to the fact that animals were created to be used by humans.
• 'Fill the earth and subdue it... have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.'
• 'The tear and dread of you shall rest on every animal of earth... Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you.'- This implies that we have power over the animals so we should be able to use them for what we want, such as animal testing.

AGAINST:

• On the other hand, there are some christian reasons to treat animals well, therefore disagreeing with animal testing as it is cruel.
• Noahs Ark- God wanted every species to survive, he cares for every aspect of creation.
• The Stewardship View- As the most powerful species, we have responsibility to look after other animals (be responsiblie stewards).
• We should value animals as they are part of God's creation.
• Jesus taught us to have compassion for the weak and needy, which could include animals.
• Some Christians simply believe it is immoral.

Therapeutic Cloning

• Involves artificially creating duplicate genetic material to grow spare human body parts or to replace diseased cells in humans.
• Once the embryo is used for medical purposes (extracting stem cells), it is destroyed.

Reproductive Cloning

• This involves artificially producing a duplicate of an animal or organism.
• The embryo would be placed into a woman's womb and allowed to develop and be born.

Roman Catholic View:

• They believe that therapeutic cloning is wrong because they think of the embryo as a human being with human rights.
• Therefore, scientists taking advantage of these embryos is violating the sanctity of life principle, life is sacred so should not be destroyed.
• Furthermore, if scientists are using cloning to resolve the lack of organ donors, it is wrong because it is against God's plan as he decides when life ends. Instead the scientists are playing the part of God.

Church of England View:

• The Church of England believes that cloning is wrong because it violates the sanctity of life principle and is taking advantage of the embryo that could've had a life ahead of it.
• In spite of this, it is often seen as the more compassionate option or the 'lesser of two evils' because this research could save thousands through finding cures for terminal illnesses.
• However, they know that this is a controversial subject as different people will have different thoughts on the morality of cloning. Therefore they support the use of embryonic stem cells only when it is 'absolutely necessary'.

• Both Roman Catholics and Anglicans believe that reproductive cloning is wrong as it does not do anything for the greater good (unlike therapeutic cloning which could fins cures for diseases). 
• Furthermore, it is immoral and could have a negative impact on humanity if people begin to make 'designer babies'.
• The process has a very high wastage rate, taking many trials to complete it accurately, therefore destroying many embryos which clearly violates the sanctity of life principle.