Quarton30 Dec 2002

zzinnia66....
Not sure if your question was for me or not but
I do have an opinion. Being a deist, I do not
believe in a "personal God" and tend towards a
humanistic view.

Cloning humans is a controversial subject as we
all know and the strongest objections come from
the religious community--primarily those that are
monotheistic such as Christianity, Judaism and
Islamism. Their beliefs are pretty much entrenched
and not likely to change for reasons involving
their personal faith or blind beliefs. From their
perspective, God is in control of everything. He/She
is supposedly omnipotent and omnipresent, a concept
that I find not only bogus but utterly ridiculous.
The God they have created is a kind of spiritual
elephantiasis, pervasive and always watching and
knowing both our
thoughts and deeds ad nauseum. Eastern religions have
more credibility as they are free of the dogma and
moral certitude that accompany most other religions
and would probably leave issues such as cloning in
the hands of the human creators.

From a medical or scientific view, there would be
proponents as well as opponents for there are logical,
medical, scientific and moral considerations that
must be addressed prior to a resolution. I won't go
into detail regarding the above but one example from
a medical position would be selective cloning in which
genetic and/or hereditary factors would be considered,
thus greatly improving quality of life and longevity.

Everything considered, I believe the issue is
inherently intractable. It is comparable to the
abortion controversy with strong opinions from both
sides that are not going to change. So....there will
certainly be more human cloning and the arguments
both pro and con will continue. Where it will all lead
remains unanswerable considering specifics but highly
predictable considering the opposing views that address
moral and religious precepts.