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Published
by Church
Executive Magazine, November 18, 2005
NCC
Assembly receives policy statement on human
biotechnologies
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New
York (November 18, 2005) -- The National
Council of Churches General Assembly meeting in
Hunt Valley, Md., November 8-10, placed an
important item on its 2006 agenda: a policy on
human biotechnologies entitled, "Fearfully
and Wonderfully Made."
After a session of generally friendly questions
and suggestions, the Assembly voted unanimously
to receive the policy for a first reading. The
delegates will take the policy to their member
communions for study and comment and will vote
on a motion to adopt it at their next meeting in
November 2006 in Orlando.
Clare J. Chapman, chair of the policy
development committee, said the policy will
supplement a 1986 biotechnologies policy that
will be retained because it has useful language,
including bioethics in the fields of
agriculture. But developments in the field have
"rapidly overtaken" the original
statement and the new policy is necessary
because of developments "unforeseen in
1986."
The policy is composed of three sections:
"Our Theological Self-Understanding;"
"The Church's Calling" in faith and
science; and "Key Challenges for Church
Engagement," including stem cell and
embryonic stem cell research.
The policy concludes with six-part section on
recommendations for the NCC, member communions,
congregations, priests and pastors, seminaries
and medical practitioners, health care
professionals and researchers. The policy is
intended to be forward-looking enough to provide
moral and ethical guidance on developments in
biotechnology that won't exist for years,
Chapman said.
Complicated issues in biotechnology include stem
cell research, cloning, alterations in the genes
of fetuses to achieve desired hair and eye
color, intelligence and other attributes, and
many more.
Dr. Cynthia B. Cohen, who Chapman identified as
one of the "senior sages" who guided
the committee's work, was on hand the night
before the discussion to receive the NCC's J.
Irwin Miller Award for advancing ecumenism in
the U.S. and around the world. In a preview of
one of the issues the policy statement
discusses, Cohen -- an Episcopal laywoman and
professor of ethics at Georgetown University --
said the world faces a choice of whether it
wants to preserve humanity as God created it or
create a species of non-humans.
One of the recommendations for NCC action is a
call to form a federal commission for the
regulation and discussion of emerging
biotechnologies.
Members of the policy development committee
introduced sections of the policy to the
Assembly.
Father Demetrios Demopulos of the Greek Orthodox
Archdiocese of America, said the church has a
long-time partnership with science. "There
is not a great war going on (between faith and
science) but since the beginning of the church,
science has been a tool of theology ... to
better understand the world God has given
us."
The policy statement is important, Demopulos
said, because "we are to be faithful in our
understanding of God -- we are responsible to
bear witness, to be prophetic, to point out that
things are not the way they ought to be."
The Rev. Bill Gaventa of American Baptist
Churches in the USA noted that developments in
biotechnologies have the potential of
dramatically altering the lives of disabled
persons but much reflection is required before
deciding to make those changes.
"There are many perceptions and value
judgments about the disabled," Gaventa
said. "Do we use biotechnologies to change
the condition or change the perception of that
condition?"
A policy is needed to help the churches discern
the theological as well as the scientific
issues. "In a world of market-driven
genetics, we may see life not as a gift but as
custom-made," he said.
The Rev. Angelique Walker-Smith, a member of the
NCC General Assembly who also serves on the
Central Committee of the World Council of
Churches, said she hoped the policy would
generate the same interest as the WCC's
"Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry"
document.
"This (biotechnologies policy) is a very
important document and I hope it can be made
more popular in style," she said. One
methodology for accomplishing that, she
suggested, would be an intergenerational focus
group.
The other members of the Policy Development
Committee on Human Biotechnologies are: Ms.
Jacqueline Cho, Presbyterian Church (USA); Mrs.
Blythe Crissman, United Methodist Church; Dr.
Donald L. Cronkite, Reformed Church in America;
Fr. Demetrios Demopulos, Greek Orthodox
Archdiocese of America; Fr. O.C. Edwards, Jr.,
The Episcopal Church; Rev. Dr. James Fenimore,
United Methodist Church; Mr. Victor
Cyrus-Franklin, Jr., United Methodist Church;
Rev. Bill Gaventa, American Baptist Churches
USA; Dr. Christine Gudorf, the Catholic Church;
Mr. David Leslie, Ecumenical Ministries of
Oregon; Dr. Gerald McKenny, Presbyterian Church
(USA); Bishop Serapion, Coptic Orthodox Church;
Rev. Peter Sulyok, Presbyterian Church (USA);
and Dr. Olivia MasihWhite, United Church of
Christ.
The committee is staffed by the Rev. Dr. Eileen
W. Lindner, deputy general secretary of the NCC,
and the Rev. Marcel A. Welty of the NCC staff.
The National Council of Churches is composed of
35 Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, historic
African American and peace communions
representing 45 million Christians in 100,000
local congregations in the United States.
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