Why are religous people so against stem cell...

To all religiuos people here on ATS and perticularly the christians:

It has come to my attention that variuos protests for stem cell research have been occuring all over the world. It seems that most of the people against this are the religious folk.

Why are you so against stem cell research?....why are you against finding cures for deadly deseases??.

Why do you care that other people are "sinning" against god. If you religiuos people dont like stem cell research, then ignore it, but dont try and ban it for others!...

I think its a wonderful thing, and should be funding intensely. It has the power to solve so many medical problems, yet the only thing holding us back is this "we are playing with god" statement.

I say let me play god and go to hell, wat do u care? You get to go to heaven.

I say stop ruining this oppourtunity for others with your beleifs and let us research something very useful.

ANother question for the people against stem cell research:
What if your child was sick from a deadly desease and the only cure was to use stem cells? Then wat?...Would u jsut tell ur child "NO....cuz then we'd be playing god"????...
I know i would do anything and everything to save my child, even if it meant playing god.

[edit on 24-1-2005 by LuDaCrIs]

I am Christian and am fine with stem cell research. I would probably kill for my children(given the right circumstance), so there isn't much I wouldn't do for them

Stem cell research isn't inherently bad.

Its one of two things. They either think we are playing God, or they think someone will use it for malicious means. Neither one really holds up very well.

Originally posted by Kidfinger
Its one of two things. They either think we are playing God, or they think someone will use it for malicious means. Neither one really holds up very well.

We are talking about the human race aren't we? Most of the time, advancements in technology, medicine, etc.... has been used for malicious means.

Originally posted by knights5629

We are talking about the human race aren't we? Most of the time, advancements in technology, medicine, etc.... has been used for malicious means.

I going to have to disagree with this. I'd say that most of the time we do use our technology for the better. It is the radical ones that get noticed.

And as for this stem cell research stuff, i mean we should let scientist work on it. In a controlled and regulated environment, much like the pharmacudical(sp?) companies.

For some reason i dont think that, because we are maliciuos in nature, is the reason why religiuos folk dont want stem cell research being done

Don't the most usable and promising stim cells come from fetuses?
I think many religious people assume that to get stim cells, you must abort a fetus. This may or may not be true. I don't know enough about stim cells to be certain, but if so, I think it's safe to say this would be why religous people tend to oppose it.

Originally posted by knights5629

Originally posted by Kidfinger
Its one of two things. They either think we are playing God, or they think someone will use it for malicious means. Neither one really holds up very well.

We are talking about the human race aren't we? Most of the time, advancements in technology, medicine, etc.... has been used for malicious means.

Has the cure for Polio been used maliciously? Has Chemotherapy been used malicously? These are BOTH advancements in science and medicine that could have had components of them used for malicious means. So what is the difference in these advances and Stem cell research?

Where as you do have a point with Polio and Chemotherapy (very helpful in trying to cure diseases), the point is that without stringent guidelines, the overall use of stem cell could use wrongly. Isn't there a huge potential for misuse in stem cell research?

By the way, where does the most active stem cells come from? Even though, adult stem cells and embroyonic stem cells can be used, the stem cells that are the most flexible in use is the stem cells from a fetus. If we could find a way to harvest stem cells without harming or hurting the fetus, I would be all for it. To date, I don't know a way to do that. Do you?

Originally posted by knights5629


To date, I don't know a way to do that. Do you?

One word. Cloning. People get in more of an uproar about this than they do stem cells. The fact is, there is an ample supply to study now. All we would have to do is clone them, or the fetus they came from and there is your freezer full of stem cells.

Of course guidelines should be issued. This is, after all, an area that we have never delved deep before. But that is what it is going to take to cure some of the most fatal desiese and cancer known to man. There are other benifits as well, but I really dont feel like going into them right now. Way to many to pick from and talk about.

Not asking you to name the benefits to stem cell research, I know as much as you.

Cloning is a whole new ball of wax. Is it right to clone? Don't know the answer to that. But if it turns out that it is okay to clone, then stem cell would be okay. And I can handle that.

What I don't want is to kill the fetus just so a scientist can get a viable line of stem cells to work with. I believe that is unacceptable.

Originally posted by knights5629


What I don't want is to kill the fetus just so a scientist can get a viable line of stem cells to work with. I believe that is unacceptable.

I completly agree. The thing is, there is an ample supply of stem cells avalible if the public would allow it. And Im not talking about cloning. This is an ugly fact, and it is something that is dificult to talk about without getting involved in heated debates. Im talking about unplanned parenthood clinics. I dont agree with them personally, but if we are going to have them, then we might as well get some benifit from them.

Because it uses fetuses, it is wrong to use them, they should be thrown away in garbage disposals instead of being used to play god. I know, if they aren't used they are thrown away, but that is better then curing something like Lou Gherigs disease or paralysis. Playing god is wrong, no matter how many millions of lives they would save, they should all die instead of playing god, or satan in some cases.

Anyways, enough sarcasm, they are either used to heal millions or thrown out in garbage cans. Lets see.... save millions, thrown out as garbage, what makes more sense? Well, not being a ignorant saving millions makes more sense, but of course I don't need a book to tell me not to kill people or rape women like christians.

James the Lesser,
I don't know what problem you have with Christians voicing their opinions, but this is America and we still the right to free speech.

Kidfinger,
I know that abortions are an every day occurance and I hate the fact that people do consider that as an option. Until something drastic happens, this will continue to go on.

Even in my distaste for the abortion, I do see your point in using the stem cells from the aborted fetus'. Serious question, would using stem cells from already aborted fetuses cause more abortions? If it does, I just could not support it.

[edit on 28-1-2005 by knights5629]

Religeous people are not against all stem cells, just against embryonic stem cells (which are taken from adults without harming/killing them. Their argument is not that, "We are playing God," but, "We don't believe in the killing of a human being (fetus) to save lives." Basically, they are against killing someone to save someone. They are not trying to ban adult (tissue-specific) multipotent (unable to turn into any part of the body, can only turn into some) stem cells because they do not kill or harm anyone. NOTE: I AM NOT RELIGIOUS (well, I am agnostic, but that doesn't count), I AM JUST A STEM CELL EXPERT!!! I hate it when people make assumptions. And I am all for stem cell research.

This thread has too much ignorance. This anonymous guy came through!

Originally posted by Anonymous ATS
Religeous people are not against all stem cells, just against embryonic stem cells (which are taken from adults without harming/killing them. Their argument is not that, "We are playing God," but, "We don't believe in the killing of a human being (fetus) to save lives." Basically, they are against killing someone to save someone. They are not trying to ban adult (tissue-specific) multipotent (unable to turn into any part of the body, can only turn into some) stem cells because they do not kill or harm anyone.

There are two (well, sort of) kinds of stem cells: embryonic and adult. Embryonic stem cells come from embryos, aborted fetuses. That is, the products of abortion. The fear is that abortions will be used to feed the demand for embryonic stem cells.

Embryonic stem cells are generally much better than adult stem cells.


And wow, this thread is old.

[edit on 28-5-2008 by Johnmike]

Scientific advances like stem-cell reasearch give us hope with the ability to cure diseases, prolong and increase the quality of life. In the near future they will find a cure for old age and even death. This is a massive threat to the business (yes it's a business) of organised religions. If people are happy, healthy and no longer die then there will be no need for organised religions, no death = no heaven.

It's just like the oil companies looking after their own interests by quashing any advances in alternate fuels. Don't forget that the Christian church did the same thing over a thousand years ago when they banned all forms of science, describing it as heresy. One good example was when they sentenced Galileo to house arrest because he proved that the Earth in fact revolved around the Sun, and not vice versa.

First off, before some of you go calling people satan for their views, you should probably stop being so ignorant and get your facts straight on how stem cell research works. Embryos that are being disposed of to begin with have the possibilty of saving millions of peoples lives. People that are in wheelchairs will walk again. Millions of people will live to see their children and their grandchildren grow because cancer will not take their life. How about you keep your rediculous comments about "playing God" to yourself.