by Ryan Scotty

Created on: May 12, 2008

While cloning is defined simply as making multiple identical copies of something, the word has become a household term in recent years. The increase in cloning research has spurred a highly controversial debate in the past decade and a half, one of ethics against science. Religion is also an issue; many believing that scientists trying to "play God". The successful creation of the cloned sheep named "Dolly" is what most considered the biggest breakthrough in this field. A living, breathing, animal created purely through scientific means.(1)

Religion's play on cloning is that of which it is opposed to it. Cloning human embryos and the belief that we may create and design our own life go against fundamental Catholic and Christian beliefs. Leon Kass once mentioned that, cloning is a very clear and powerful example in which we are in danger of turning procreation into manufacture.' (2) The united Methodist Church stated "genes are God-given, and thus man should not be glorified as the creator of genes.", meaning, everything on earth, humans, plans animals, atoms, were pre-owned by the Creator. There have been many books sprouting up from Christian evangelical theologians such as Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, and Kerby Anderson, who are attacking the cloning and genetic engineering from a Christian standpoint. These Christian leaders believe that once cloning is available, there will be nothing to stop them creates whatever they want, and that Humans would become a subordinate being. (3)

The proposed uses and benefits of cloning have become very numerous as time has gone by, particularly in the medical field. From the possibility of cloning tissues for skin grafts, burn victims, and organ transplants, to cloning people themselves, the list goes on.

Furthermore benefits claimed by scientists in favor of human cloning include, Infertility, the ability for infertile families to have children. Cosmetic surgery, including breast implants and people suffering from accidents would greatly decrease the cause of cancer from today's cosmetic practice. Cloning pieces of human tissue will allow us to create kidneys and livers, for transplants that'll be accepted by the receiver. One of the big benefits that can help out society is possibility of curing cancers, reversing cells through cloning, by the ability of understanding them better. There are numerous other cases that can be mentioned as a use for cloning technologies. By the use of stem cells, we can create tissues. People

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