Artificial Insemination by Donor (AID) AID has been around since the 1950s. As this method of having a baby is becoming more and more popular 12 out of every 1000 children is born by this method. This method is done by placing the sperm in the neck of the womb. The roman Catholics are strongly against this method as they consider it like adultery.
Artificial Insemination by Husband (AIH) is exactly like AID but instead of using a third party you inject your husband’s sperm into the wife’s womb
2) This is much divided subject around Christians as infertility drugs and treatments were not around when the bible was written. But all Christians realise that life is sacred and god created humans to have a friendship with him. The common thought among Christians is that if god did not want a couple to have a child then you should accept it. This is backed up with a quote from the book Samuel in the bible “Hannah had no children……because the lord had kept her from having children”. But now with the medical advances of our days most Christians accept that any methods of having a baby which does not involve a third party are acceptable like IVF or AIH, AID is not accepted as it involves a third party.. However Roman Catholic Christians are against any form of infertility treatments because usually to have a successful child you need to fertilise mort than one fetus as there is a low chance of success rate. Roman Catholics believe once a fetus has been fertilised it is a living being and as most of foetuses die it is a crime. This is also why the Roman Catholics are against abortions, condoms and any other form of contraception.
The religion of Islam counts infertility treatments that do not involve the third party as a way of using medicine to bring about a normal family life. Although they are against killing embryos it is ok to do it in medical research. But it is against the law to just kill an embryo in testing it. Adoption is also banned in Islamic countries.
3) Religious people may have problems with heart transplant surgery for a lot of different reasons which I am going to tell you. Firstly the non-religious arguments in favour of transplant surgery. Firstly it is a proven method of curing life threatening diseases like heart or kidney failure or to improve someone’s life like an eye operation. Secondly it recycles otherwise useless organs. Thirdly it is a chance to help another human being even after he or she has died. And lastly it brings life out of death. The non-religious arguments transplant surgery are, firstly it is very expensive and requires high skill levels for a minority of people. Secondly it raises the dilemma do you still remove the heart when it is still beating as you have to do this in order to have a successful heart transplant. Thirdly it raises the moral and emotional problem that if someone is desperate for a transplant and someone who is about to die has the slimmest chance of being saved who’s life do you save. And lastly is causes people who live in third world countries to sell their organs to richer people in richer countries. Christians believe that the body is not needed after death and it can be used to help the living. Christians also follow the commandment love thy neighbour and treat those how you wish to be treat yourself. Both of these statements are in favour of the surgery. The Bible is also against exploiting people who live in third world countries. But some Christians are against the surgery and they claim that god created us as we are and that we should not play god they also believe that organs should not have to be paid for as that would violate the bible.
4) Only god has a right to interfere with our genes. I do not agree with this statement for many reasons. The first of these is that if there is a disease or illness that runs in the family it can be taken out of his or her genetic system so that the disease or illness will not be passed on to future generations. Secondly I also believe that if taking out some genes out of someone will improve the understanding more of medical science then it are fine. But I do not agree though with taking genes that cause spots or genes that give you brown hair as these treatments would take up the time of the already over worked hospitals and they will not matter that much in the future.
However most of the religions have mad up their own minds on the subject. Protestant Christians think it is ok to test on embryos under 14 days old (the maximum number of days aloud by UK laws to test on an embryo. But this is only aloud to happen under supervision and properly controlled. They are ok with this because protestant Christians believe the phrase life begins at contraception is un true. Protestants also believe that Jesus healed the sick, gave the blind sight and make the wounded walk. They believe that priests and ministers should encourage the scientists to move forward and help the people in need. But protestants do not agree with cloning because you are playing god. Also the bible teaches that that a child is made by sexual
intercourse from a married couple. Not from a test tube.
The Roman Catholic section of the church has an altogether different view point on the subject. Firstly some Roman Catholics are against genetic engineering completely. They believe that god has given us a life and we should be grateful for what we have got and that we should not try and change it. If we mess with genetics it interfering with god’s divine plan so it is wrong. Suffering and pain is all part of life and we have got to take it as it comes. Some Roman Catholics believe that genetic engineering has its advantages but they do not justify testing on an embryo. They do not like doing this as they believe that life begins at contraception and that if you are dissuading an embryo you are committing murder this is also why Catholics are against abortions This report from a Catholic church backs up my essay by saying “Since it must be treated from contraception as a person, the embryo must be defended in it’s integrity, cared for, and healed, as far as possible, like any other human being”
Muslims believe that after previously being used for IVF it can be tested on but no embryo can be made for this purpose. Some Muslims believe that all genetic engineering is playing Allah, but most encourage the use of the new technology. Muslims have strict rules about the afterlife they believe that the body should not be touched but many Muslims do not agree with this and it is not against Muslim laws to do this.
