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Sacred Cells? Sacred Cells? Why Christians Should Support Stem Cell Research Ted Peters, Karen Lebacqz, and Gaymon Bennett ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC. Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC. Published in the United States of America by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 www.rowmanlittlefield.com Estover Road Plymouth PL6 7PY United Kingdom Copyright © 2008 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. First paperback edition 2010 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The hardback edition of this book was previously cataloged by the Library of Congress as follows: Peters, Ted, 1941– Sacred cells? : Why Christians should support stem cell research / Ted Peters, Karen Lebacqz, and Gaymon Bennett. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Stem cells—Research—Moral and ethical aspects. I. Lebacqz, Karen, 1945– II. Bennett, Gaymon, 1972– III. Title. QH588.S83P48 2008 174.2'8—dc22 2007052094 ISBN: 978-0-7425-6288-2 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN: 978-0-7425-6289-9 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN: 978-1-4422-0771-4 (electronic) Printed in the United States of America ⬁ ™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Contents Preface vii Chapter 1 The Ethical Prehistory of Stem Cells Chapter 2 From Science to Ethics in a Flash 13 Chapter 3 Working within the Research Standards Framework 31 Three Contending Frameworks for Stem Cell Ethics 39 Chapter 5 The Embryo Protection Framework 47 Chapter 6 The Human Protection Framework 61 Chapter 7 The Future Wholeness Framework 71 Chapter 8 Ethical Smoke and Mirrors in Washington 85 Chapter 9 The Hidden Theology behind the International Debates 95 Chapter 4 1 Chapter 10 The Vatican’s Strong Stand 111 Chapter 11 The Vatican and Embryology 119 Chapter 12 The Vatican Argument in a Cracked Nutshell 141 Chapter 13 Leon Kass, Protector of Human Nature 153 v vi Contents Chapter 14 Jewish and Muslim Bioethics 171 Chapter 15 The Terror of the Chimera 185 Chapter 16 Justice and the Patenting Controversy 197 Chapter 17 The Spiritual Soul and Human Dignity 207 Chapter 18 The Ethics of the Ethicists 221 Chapter 19 Theologians Say “Yes” to Regenerative Medicine 233 Index 243 About the Authors 257 Preface Misunderstandings about ethics are like TV commercials and online popups. They are everywhere, it seems. They are pesky. They interrupt. They annoy because they divert attention. Replacing misunderstanding with clarity and focus is the goal of this book. We start with five misunderstandings. The first is this: Science is fast, whereas religion is slow; religion is always lagging behind sci