today.reuters.com — Pope Benedict on Saturday condemned genetic engineering and other scientific practices that allow people to select so-called "designer babies" by screening them for defects. In the speech the Pope also attacked artificial insemination and the widespread use of medical tests that can detect diseases and inherited disorders in embryos.
Feb 26, 2007 View in Crawl 4
stonewaljacksnFeb 27, 2007
I understand where you are coming from, and nowhere did I say Christians are persecuted EXCEPT for maybe ancient Rome and on this very site which just so happens to be populated with tech-savvy young people who are in the process of forming their own views of the world. THAT makes this place is an atheist haven, and for some reason the atheists prefer bashing Christians with insults about "invisible men" and the like.I prefer not to make incredibly derogatory comments to religious people, so what you call "magic" I call "myth", just like the stories of Greek and Roman and Norse mythology are called myths. Religion in my opinion, develops side by side with the development of man's consciousness so to speak. Notice how humans went from a fragmented polytheistic God image to a monotheistic one, which can be considered a symptom of a more "cohesive" and less primitive consciousness. I believe our consciousness has evolved and outgrown it's need for the Christian myth, but a new myth WILL or perhaps already HAS developed. I can not claim what it is/will be, that would take tons of research and more knowledge than I can possibly hope to have, but I will say that though Christianity's influence may be waning, it is only a sign that our "myth" is changing, not disappearing.
brstilsonFeb 28, 2007
I guess "Baby Gap" takes on a whole new meaning.
Closed AccountFeb 28, 2007
f**k the pope. who cares what some archaic assh**e thinks.
adent1066Feb 28, 2007
"It's the bishop..... (of Rome)"
davesbrainFeb 28, 2007
Perhaps our individual interpretations of the Inquisition differs greatly as I was taught in history class that Jews were accused of heresy, not practicing the Catholic masses, and then brought to trial, tortured until they confessed to said heresy, then tortured until they converted to Catholocism, then tortured until the torturers believed in the conversion, then the Jew, now Catholic, was executed.I discussed the atrocities carried out by the church and in the church's name, and not Hitler, Stalin, et. all. Perhaps, we're looking at the human condition and the need to justify these reprehensible actions. Whether that justification is through religion, or creating a master race, or simple revenge, the perpetrators understand on a fundemental level that they are acting in a manner against humanity.And I am trying to see beyond the dogmatic "church done bad" viewpoint, but I still feel you are focused on the "church done good." Or at least that the church has done enough good to outweigh the bad stuff done in its name or on its behalf.As our debate has progresses, I can see your views are quiet nuanced and varied. Perhaps that is where my difficulty in following you comes from.I do make every attempt at understanding historical events in their era, which is why my view on the atomic bombings is far from the America done bad. What I also try to do, as well, is look at the events as a continuation of policy and activity. To say something happened in the past and should not be accounted for is simply false. If this is the case, then why ever mention the atomic bombs, Nazi and Japanese atrocities, or any other devastating human endeavor that occurred in that past. Or are we only discussing events in the "dark ages?"I agree with you that rigorous intellectual investigation is needed. I disagree that the church will be validated in its actions, both historically and presently.I'm glad we were able to have this conversation.
stonewaljacksnMar 2, 2007
illegalcortexgod is a symbol of the ABSOLUTE. of NATURE. you f**k. ur semi-blind atheist standpoint refuses to see both sides of the coin. both science and religion approach the samething from different angles. thats my point. nature...the whole universe...EVERYHTING IS GOD...if you wanna look at it scientifically then everything is NATURE.
a3vinoMar 6, 2007
I'm catholic and I selected my so-called "designer baby" back in 2003.Playing God?We don’t think so... We are not playing God... We did spend a lot of time praying to God so that my 4 year old son wouldn’t suffer that much. We wanted to cure him. More than 675 days of hospitalization.. We didn’t want him to die from an infection. We didn’t want him to have so many headaches, dizziness, nausea, vomiting and stomach ache caused by all of his infections. We didn’t want blood samples, x-rays, endoscopies and colonoscopies. We didn’t want doctors to have to place catheters inside his heart and pump antibiotics to help him eliminate viruses and bacteria. My wife always felt God was on our side, teaching us lessons through mu son Andy. And we were proud that God chose us to take care of him. Maybe, just maybe, God knew that we would never give up; that we would never lose faith.www.andy.org.mx