- Artificial insemination includes masturbation by the male which is a sin to Catholics
- In AID and surrogacy the child is prevented from knowing there biological parents. Catholics believe they should know
- Catholics believe God intended reproduction to be part of the sexual act. All embryo technologies involve fertilisation which takes place out of the sexual act.
On the other hand some Christian churches allow AID and AIH to take place as they believe:
- The joy of the couples with children by technology is great
- The sperm and egg are from the man and woman
- The discarded embryos and the destruction of them had not developed into foetuses yet so they can be justified by the doctrine of double effect. The doctrine of double effect is the intention to create children for infertile couples not for the destruction of embryos.
They both have major issues about all other embryo technology.
In Islam infertility and its treatment with the unforbidden is allowed and encouraged. It is essential if it involves the preservation of procreation and treatment of infertility in one partner of the married couple. This applies to MAC which is one line of treatment of infertility. The modern techniques of MAC, including micromanipulation of the oocyte to facilitate fertilization, are no exceptions. The prevention and treatment of infertility are of particular significance in the Muslim world. The social status of the Muslim woman, her dignity, her self-esteem and her place in the family and society as a whole are closely related to her procreation. Childbirth and child rearing are regarded as family commitments and not just as biological and social functions.
The number of Jews in the United States is declining, the birthrate has fallen below replacement levels, and the number of children being raised Jewish is dropping because of interfaith marriages. In response, some Jewish women are trying to have more babies. Among them are women embracing single motherhood, achieved by artificial insemination.
Survival is a powerful theme in Judaism, which has endured the Holocaust and other challenges. A new trend is that Jewish women feel empowered to address declines because of their faith’s acceptance of reproductive technology and because Jewishness is traditionally believed to be passed down through the mother.
Some Jewish women say they feel personally responsible because God commanded them to be fruitful and multiply. On top of that, the decline in Jewish women’s reproductive rate has often been blamed on the fact that they are marrying late and delaying childbearing, because of graduate school and careers. Jews are also increasingly marrying non-Jews, which far increases the odds that the children will not be raised Jewish.
As older couples and single women seek parenthood, the demand for Jewish donor eggs and surrogates far exceeds the supply. In a country where synagogue affiliation is estimated at less than 50 percent, Jewish congregations are being challenged to consider how far they should go to support Jewish parents, and single mothers in particular. Monetary payments have been suggested. All these raise religious and ethical questions for a faith determined to flourish.
(iii) Explain why religious people may have problems with transplant surgery.
Religious people may have problems with transplant surgery as:
Christian Scientist believe in spiritual healing rather than medical healing. It is up to the individual if they would like a transplant.
Jehovah's witnesses’ don’t have organ transplants if the organs contain blood. In the bible it says to 'abstain from blood'.
Believers of the Shinto faith believe it is bad luck to use organs from dead bodies as in their tradition bodies should remain intact.
Christianity: Its many Christians belief that as an organ is part of the body that God created, anybody who removes or replaces organs in or from a body is playing the role of God. Also removal of organs from the body shows disrespect to the sanctity of life.
For some non-religious people the argument against organ transplant is that the cost of the treatment is extremely high, and many non-religious people argue that the money could be better spent on other treatments for the rest of the population, instead of concentrating on highly specialised surgery for the few.
(b) ‘Only God has the right to interfere with our genes’. Do you agree? Give reasons for your opinion, showing you have considered another point of view. In your own answer you should refer to religious teaching.
I believe that genetic scientists should be able to alter food i.e. Vegetables and fruits so that they are easier to grow stronger and disease resistant so that they could be grown in poor countries to help feed the population. Also I believe that if they could do that with cattle so they would grow meatier, stronger and larger that it would be great as it could provide the poor with protein and save many lives. This would also increase the life expectancy. I believe they should do this with humans as well as it could save peoples live and prevent people from growing with diseases as they could alter there genes. They could stop children developing cancers etc.
Although,
Some non-religious people think that genetic engineering is wrong because there isn't enough information on what would happen in the future and the effects may be irreversible and scientists might treat the human body as a scientific object and not something that's spiritually important.
But most Christians think that genetic engineering is all right as long as it isn't used to create 'perfect humans'. The reasons why some Christians believe this is that they think that healing people is good because Jesus told people to do what ever they could to heal humans. As well as God wanting people's lives to be improved so Liberal Protestants think it's no different from drugs, and it is like working with God instead of being God. They are also fine with other non-religious arguments’ for genetic engineering. Catholics, Orthodox, Jews and some Muslims believe that genetic engineering should only be used to cure diseases and human embryos shouldn't be used to find cures for diseases because it is banned in the Bible, Torah and Qur'an. Other Christians believe that all type of genetic research should be banned. They believe that it will be playing the role of God and that will interfere with God's will. Also humans shouldn't try to make the earth perfect because only heaven is perfect, and they agree with other non-religious arguments against genetic engineering.
To conclude I would say, I think genetic engineering should take place to a certain extent but we shouldn't take it to far as it could cause huge problems such as protests as in many peoples eyes it would be a huge sin as many arguments’ back this up.
Bibliography
