I was cruising CNN.com for something to spice up my day when I found this headline: Vatican lists new sinful behaviors. Apparently, the Vatican has come out with an updated naughty list and “genetic manipulation” is now up there. Does that mean that scientists researching gene therapy, cancer, etc now do so under pain of excommunication? How far does the rule go? The official who presented the report referred to the rule as “certain violations of the fundamental rights of human nature through experiments, genetic manipulations.” Does that mean it extends only to people, or is manipulating the genes of other organisms a sin as well?
Any Catholic or religion-savvy Dopers know the specifics about this?
The jesuits were once considered to be an order of magicians by the common man, such was their erudtion and learning. Times have changed.
Scientists have been manipluating genes with gusto for 30 years. He is probably referring to the latest developments in cloning and synthetic biology in the vein of ‘let’s make a human!’ To be fair that is a load of old cobblers and needs stamping on at every opportunity.
I haven’t read the pope’s statement yet, but my instinct tells me that he’s probably more concerned with the type of experimentation that amounts to “playing God.” Things like genetic engineering and cloning, which are intended to allow scientists to create tailor-made organisms. I’m pretty sure that the pope isn’t talking about scientists who are trying to find cures to diseases, but rather the ones who are trying to create a future where people can be ordered up like cars, with whatever options the buyer wants.
Lots of things are ‘sins’ without being grounds for excommunication. That is a public process to signify that someone has, by their actions, excluded themself from the body of the Church. Normally it is reserved for big, public actions; particularly those of the ‘defying the authority of the Church (Pope)’ type.
Think of Galileo, for example. He not only researched the motion of planets, he actually published about it. But he was not excommunicated (just forced to publicly renounce his research, and then pretty much confined to his house from then on).
It’s already been said, but no, Catholic Hospitals the world over won’t be closing down their Oncology wards or their Oncology research. The problem is with things like selecting a fetus for “desirable” traits; abortion because the fetus is “defective” (but viable, the defect can be anything from gender to trisomy); clonation; clonation with “improvements”; inserting genes to “improve the race” (hey, let’s make clorophilic men!), etc.
Lots of things which used to be SciFi but which are Sci, now.