Can the mystery of life be contained in a petri dish?
If I’d be a true believer in churches and religions, I had to say: „No“, without any explanation or proof. Fortunately, I'm not and have got the opportunity to go further than this. The most important point about the discussion in cloning is to understand the coherence between science and faith.
At first Mystery is a thing which we don't understand. Humans have been fascinated by the unknown all the time. But all the more we start to understand how the mechanisms of life work and this knowledge is spread all over the world, resistance stirs. The evolution theory is just one example for this controversy between science and churches. But furthermore it is the best one, because it affected our own lifetime. Although scientists have discovered new evidences each year, the theory has been removed from educational books in several states of the U.S.. But even Darwin himself didn't renounce the existence of a divinity.
Scientists discover the unknown by scientific work, which includes proofs. They don't argue that the up-to-date theories are a kind of absolute truth about an issue. These theories are just the best explanations and models for natural mechanisms, which are really available. Thus, the next theory could replace the current one. For expample the theory of relativity replaced the theory of luminiferous aether as medium for light in our universe.i
An all knowing God can be an explanation for everything and may provide hope and help people during their lifetime. But neither can science be a surrogate for faith, nor can religion be a replacement for scientific work. Both are essential for a sustainable and responsible exposure with new technologies. Cloning and genetics feature chances for the whole mankind.
If you asked me, if life can be contained in a petri dish, I'll have to answer yes. Because if you accept that knowledge can’t be hold back in the internet generation, you will not ask me what is possible but how to handle the facts. Cloning and genetic manipulation are facts. They may cause fear or discomfort because of the nescience and politics of religious communities. A divinity may help you to accept almost everything, which is still a mystery. Unfortunately cloning and genetics aren’t longer mysteries and without new dark ages it will never be.
The true discussion starts with: Is it ethically correct that we don’t cure almost each fatal disease? Is it right to be (too) paralyzed with fear by the unknown ? Is it right to spread those fears? Don’t we learn everything possible about biotechnologies to find a good way to handle it? Almost everything can be relativized by knowledge.
In addition if you asked me, if mysteries can be contained in a petri dish, I'll have to answer no. There is no way to put nescience in a dish.
i http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luminiferous_aether 18.02.07 22:00
Vocabulary:devinity Gottheit
nescience Nichtwissen
controversy Kontroverse
coherence Zusammenhang
evidences Beweis, Beleg
exposure Umgang
discomfort Unbehagen
to be paralyzed with fear erstarrt vor angst
surrogate Surrogat/Ersatzstoff
of religious communities Religionsgemeinschaften
dark age dunkles Zeitalter (vgl. dunkles Mittelalter)
to stir (sich) regen
