A Sleepy Look to 2005

Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly isn't one of my favorite PBS efforts; all too often PBS eschews new bioethics programming because it is "covered already" by this budget discussion and debate program. R&E often has skimpier ethics reports than the major news networks, and that is truly saying something; its approach to bioethics has the feel of a star-struck church member. The program takes this look to what will happen in 2005 with an eye toward religion.

Bioethics Abandons the Creationism Debate

Texbook disclaimer stickers are here. Bioethicists remain oddly silent on the issue of teaching evolution in schools. Given the renewed efforts of creationists to both discredit evolution and to have creationism taught as science rather than as religion this paucity of comment is inexcusable. This website nicely captures the dangers that await high school kids when those in bioethics fail to comment on one of the core ethical challenges facing biomedicine--that its foundational theory ought not be taught in American schools as science! - Art Caplan UPDATE: polls confirm that most Americans adhere to at least some creationist views.

Papal Statement on Euthanasia

Pope John Paul spoke today of the evils of euthanasia, using interesting new language. He described what he termed as distortion of ethics, namely the conversion of compassion into a "suppression of human life" through the desire to support it. It is not clear to me what the Pope meant, but his words were provocative:

Euthanasia is among the dramas of an ethic that presumes to establish who can live and who must die

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The New Moral Majority (UPDATED)

This frightening piece on the plans of conservative protestants to "prepare demands for the White House is grounded in interviews with figures including Richard Land. Note the part about changing the rules governing filibuster so that anti-abortion judges will be certain to get confirmed. From the Orlando Sentinal UPDATE: Wall Street Journal piece on evangelists' thought-out agenda.

Baptists and Stem Cells

Chris Mooney is as usual on top of everything and today found a pretty amazing piece in the Baptist Press identifying a new focus among conservative Baptists on stem cell research. The description of the position comes in a summary of a major panel in Nashville and features a description of stem cell research as a new slave trade on the horizon. This is election relevant for sure and speaks volumes about the alignment of fundamentalist protestants with the Catholic perspective on embryonic stem cell research. No nuance is allowed concerning cells sourced from non-viable embryo-like organisms.