Christian Worldview Concepts

The Promise and Peril of the Embryo

Silver Bullet?

In the minds of many people, especially the media, the term "stem cells" has become the silver bullet of medicine, the bridge to a medical utopia where physicians will have virtually unlimited powers to overcome all human ailments. These stem cells represent the culmination of the human quest for immortality, if one believes the hyperbole of the press. Are the glossy promises of stem cell research genuine? Are there pitfalls we should know about? Should Christians join in with the euphoria sweeping through the medical and research communities?

In the first article of this series, I argued that there is much more at stake in the stem cell debate than whether or not they actually work as predicted. There are serious ethical questions to be resolved that go beyond what we do with the so called "leftover" embryos languishing in infertility clinics. I believe that not only the future of human medicine but the future of humankind is at stake. I also believe that the question of the moral status of the human embryo is the most important single question in all of bioethics, thus I am compelled to include this in a discussion of stem cell research.