UFOs, Little Green Men, and Cloned Babies

It was no accident that baby girl Eve was born on December 26, missing Christmas by only a day. Eve, whose makers claim she was cloned, is the first-born in what the Raelians, a UFO cult, believe will be a glorious brave new world. The Raelians teach that human beings are clones of extraterrestrials: the Elohim, a word they say Jews and Christians wrongly translate as "God." And just as cloning was the beginning of human life, so cloning is the key to human immortality. First, develop cloning to produce children. Second, speed up the growth process so that an adult can be cloned in a few hours. Third, transfer the mind of an aged or infirm person to the new, youthful clone -- a process that we keep repeating forever, thereby giving ourselves eternal life. Bizarre, you say? Laughable? The Raelians claim that they have successfully completed step one with baby Eve. They claim that more clones are due in a couple of months, and there's a waiting list of two thousand people waiting to pay $200,000 each for a clone. The Raelians may not be as far out in the fringe as they seem. Remember that Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking, and other respected scientists have claimed that human life came from somewhere, perhaps in outer space, and redemption would come from outer space, as well. This is the inevitable consequence of suppressing the biblical worldview. Pascal's "God-shaped vacuum" will be filled by something. It's part of our nature, because we're created in the image of God, and thus, we ask ultimate questions. We'll answer those questions one way or another, with truth from the Bible or fanciful nonsense. The announcement of the cloned baby's birth has thrust cloning onto the front pages of major newspapers. Cloning supporters are scrambling to distinguish "therapeutic" cloning, so-called -- in which embryos are created for destruction in medical experiments -- from "reproductive" cloning. I couldn't help but notice that ABC chose Christopher Reeve, the country's most visible therapeutic cloning advocate, to release the switch, dropping the ball in Times Square, celebrating New Year's Eve. In interviews, Reeve talked about his great humanitarian crusade. But not so fast. The distinction between "therapeutic" cloning and "reproductive" cloning is a smoke screen. All cloning is reproductive. Who is going to enforce whether an embryo goes to a lab for experimentation or is implanted in a womb to be born? The Justice Department has testified that it can not. In order to ban live-birth cloning, we must ban all human cloning. Politically, this is the time to do it. The president has said he wants a cloning ban. Last year, the House passed a total ban on human cloning by an overwhelming majority. And in the Senate last year, the Brownback bill was blocked by then-Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD). The new Majority Leader, Bill Frist (R-TN), is a physician who happens to be on the right side of this issue. Congress goes back into session tomorrow. This is the time to call your representative and your two senators and make your opposition to human cloning very clear. Urge them: Pass a total ban on all human cloning. The lid on the Pandora's box of unethical biotechnology has been raised. Now is the time to slam it back down and lock it tight. Take action: Call your congressman and senators. Urge them to pass a total ban on human cloning: Ban both reproductive and "therapeutic" cloning. The Capitol switchboard is 202-224-3121. Or visit http://www.congress.org for mailing and e-mail addresses. For further information: Robin Toner, "Foes of Abortion Push for Major Bills in Congress," New York Times, 2 January 2003 (free registration required). Denise Grady and Robert Pear, "Outrage over Cloning Claim," New York Times, 29 December 2002 (free registration required). Stanley Kurtz, "Left Clones," National Review Online, 2 January 2003. BreakPoint Commentary No. 021217, "Opening Pandora's Box: Cloning at Stanford." Daniel J. Bryant, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legislative Affairs, U.S. Department of Justice, Testimony before House Government Reform Committee on Human Cloning, 15 May 2002. Visit the Council for Biotechnology Policy and Americans to Ban Cloning websites for more information on bioethics and biotechnology. "Debate of the Century" -- On June 7, 2002, Wilberforce Forum Dean Nigel Cameron debated Peter Singer of Princeton University on the topic: "What Does It Mean to Be Human?" Dr. Cameron, deemed "the father of bioethics," argued the Christian worldview perspective: All human life is sacred, created in God's image. Dr. Singer, known for condoning infanticide, presented the extreme opposite view. Blaise Pascal and Alban J. Krailsheimer (translator), Pensees (Penguin Books, 1995).

01/6/03