by Hilary White
The next general assembly of the Church of Scotland, a Presbyterian protestant denomination, will be looking at a proposal to “re-examine” its stand on the use of living human beings at the embryonic stage for research.
Known informally as the Kirk, the church has up to now said that embryonic human life must be protected, although at the same time it supported the cloning of human embryos at stem cell farms.
This weekend, however, the Kirk’s Society, Religion and Technology (SRT) project, announced that it has reviewed the science, theology and ethics and has reversed its previous 2001 ruling. The SRT report says that now the killing of some “spare” IVF embryos is acceptable, but only under “exceptional” circumstances. It opposes the creation of cloned embryos, human/animal hybrids or embryos that have been deliberately made non-viable.
The SRT recommended that the British government not weaken what most ethicists agree is already among the most permissive legislation on embryo research and cloning in the world.
The group admitted that to some of the members of the church “the embryo already has the same human dignity as a person who has been born.” As in most protestant denominations, however, theological and moral issues in the Church of Scotland are decided by majority vote and the majority of the SRT was in favour of the changes.
SRT spokesman, Dr. Donald Bruce claimed that the theology that banned IVF and embryo research has been “updated.”
Bruce told media, that in 2001, the assembly felt that “spare” IVF embryos “should not be used for stem-cell research but cloned embryos could be used.”
“The whole area of cloning embryos,” he said, “is now very problematic, ever since the South Korean scandal in which they claimed they had made substantial progress in this area, which proved to be false. It is fair to say the whole area is up in the air.”
The Scotsman reports that the Catholic Church in Scotland responded that the SRT’s suggestion – called “brave” and “nuanced” by secular bioethicists – is merely confused. The Kirk, it said, was “starting down a dangerous path” by stating that the “end justifies the means”.
A key point in the SRT report claimed that embryos under 14 days old did not have the “moral status” of humans. This raises a red flag for those who have long known that the 14-day cut off for personhood was an invention of bioethicists at Georgetown University and has remained a staple of the arguments in favour of making embryonic humans into mere research fodder.
Many Christian churches, including large numbers of Catholic bioethicists, have adopted this standard, but embryologists and faithful Catholic theologians have called it a ruse that undermines the dignity of the human person.
The SRT’s report said, “The moral status of the human embryo is not established until some time into its biological development after conception.”
Peter Kearney, spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland, responded, “We don’t accept the 14-day rule. If it is appropriate to conduct experiments at 14 days, why not 13 or 15? There’s no logical reason not to as there is no particular important physiological change that takes place on that day. The moment you say it’s OK to use embryos, the time is irrelevant.”
Kearney told the Scotsman that the decision was the start of a dangerous slope: “On the one hand somebody who may be very sick is being given a life saving treatment, but it’s at the expense of the life of somebody else.”
The announcement has garnered praise from secular bioethicists: “I think the Church of Scotland is to be admired to be able to create this type of nuanced report, trying to make proposals about this type of thing rather than just condemning it like so many faith groups.” Sheila McLean, professor of medical ethics at Glasgow University, told the Scotsman.
This kind of theological confusion and inability to provide solid guidance on basic moral issues may be a contributing factor in the decline of influence of the Presbyterian Kirk.
2001 census data showed that about 42% of Scotland’s population identified themselves with the Church of Scotland, which would make it the largest religious group. The actual registered membership, however, is about 600,000, leaving it slightly under that of the Catholic Church at 12%.
Those who said on the 2001 census that they have “no religion” represent about 28% which, as with most of the rest of Europe, leaves atheists in the majority.
As a Presbyterian church, the Kirk has no bishops, but is governed by “presbyters.” The supreme body is the annual General Assembly, which meets each May in Edinburgh.