Man is not God

"The spoilsports in the Catholic Church have voiced the opinion that experimenting with the human genetic make-up violates human dignity and Biblical teaching. Researchers may consider these words relics of the past. Nevertheless they are a portent for the sustainability of our society. What is our view of human dignity? The search for therapies and cures for diseases is an abstract goal. But in concrete cases, the use - and destruction - of living embryos is diametrically opposed to this goal. Human life is degraded and reduced to genetic material, to research matter in a test tube. ... This chimera stands for the overbearing pride of man the researcher, whose scientific curiosity pushes him to rival God. Our tradition offers analogies from Adam to Dr. Frankenstein. In general, the undoing of proud man is the very inconvertibility of the promises he makes to himself. Adam is exiled from Paradise and Dr. Frankenstein perishes in the eternal ice. Man has seldom done well by his desire to rival God. Because man is just that - man, and not God."

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