Posted by Sean Patrick Rushton on July 12, 1999 at 13:19:21:
With all due respect for those people apprehensive of cloning (and those suspicious of scientific progress in general), I can't help but retain the hopeful conviction that a little bit of reason will go a long way in developing a capacity to become, in the very least, cautiously optimistic about Man's evolving relationship with Nature. I never cease to be amazed of how odd a lot of people's conception of "natural" tends to be. EVERYTHING under the sun (and all other suns in the universe) is natural. The natural is all we know. The only things that we can logically call "unnatural" are those those things that lie beyond nature as we presently understand it...in other words the "supernatural", whether it be spiritual entities, Extra Sensory Perception, miracles, or God. I should state right off the bat that I personally do believe "in" and "of" God. However, I also believe that God has given us room to be human, that is, the freedom to make choices, good and bad, instead of merely relying on instinct as other animals do. And as far as we know from simple observation, God has permitted us to make those choices without intervention. He does not punish the bad and reward the good...bad things happen to good people everyday just as good things happen to bad people. For what ever reasons (whick we may or perhaps cannot ever know), God has left us to our own devices, good and bad. In sum, he has let us be a part of NATURE, and as such we are bound by Nature's laws (whether we sometimes like it or not). Cloning, as is any other scientific discovery, is simply that, a futher discovery and understanding of the principles of the Nature that God has created. What we choose do with that discovery (as God has demonstrated, or rather not demonstated through non-interference throughout the ages) is up to us. We can choose to use our discoveries wisely (harnessing the immense power of the atom to provide cheap, and, if dealt with responsibly, clean energy to the needful peoples of the world) or unwisely (bombing ourselves to the brink of self-destruction). One of the most important places that I believe God has our lives is in inspiring us to use the gifts He left to us in Nature. Cloning, like fire, may be frightening in its potential. However, also like fire (when harnessed responsibly) it can bring a great light into a world that is all too often filled with darkness.
It should be remembered that one of the only reasons that the Dark Ages were so "dark" was because the "light" of science, of understanding the world through Nature, His Nature, was paradoxically deemed "unnatural"! If we keep condemning the discoveries of Nature and the responsible use of those discoveries as "unnatural", how can future generations of humans NOT look back on our OWN age as DARK?