Press Release
Evangelical, Catholic Leaders Welcome New Stem Cell Guidelines
Evangelical Christian and Catholic leaders are welcoming the National Institute of Health's new draft guidelines for federal financing of embryonic stem-cell research as a common ground approach that respects life at every stage. The new draft guidelines, announced Friday, greatly expand the number of embryonic stem cell lines eligible for federal funding, while limiting financing to research on embryos from fertility clinics that would otherwise be discarded.
Statements from Evangelical and Catholic leaders and scholars follow:
Joel Hunter, Senior Pastor, Northland A Church Distributed, Northland, Florida:
"I enthusiastically support the NIH's draft guidelines on embryonic stem cell research. They have hit the right balance by limiting funding to particular slated-to-be-destroyed IVF cells, yet expanding significantly the number of diseases that can be addressed by increasing the number and range of stem cell lines from which we can learn. These guidelines respect life from beginning to end."
Douglas Kmiec, Professor of Constitutional Law, Pepperdine University:
"The Obama administration has announced informed consent rules that are far more strict - and retroactive - than what had been proposed by President Bush. In brief, if researchers do not follow the new informed consent rules, no funding. This may trigger some consternation among medical researchers, but it is a very positive sign that President Obama has been listening - as he promised - to the heightened claims of conscience posed by Catholics in the modern medical environment. The President's strong motivation to assist in the treatment of devastating illnesses often associated with life's end is only ennobled by his willingness to be more ethically sensitive to the earliest moments of life."
Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, President, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference:
"As an advocate of a pro-life agenda, I can support the NIH's new draft guidelines for embryonic stem cell research. They represent a responsible step forward that respects the value of groundbreaking medical discoveries and the need to protect life at all stages. By ensuring that the government funds research only on embryos scheduled to be discarded, the new regulations embody caution and care that respect pro-life values."
Derrick Harkins, Pastor, Nineteenth Street Baptist Church, Washington, DC and Board Members, World Relief:
"The decision by the NIH to limit its support of stem cell research to the use of IVF cells that would otherwise be destroyed is a welcomed acknowledgement of the sensitivities that inform all sides of this challenging issue. The broader possibilities for medical advancement with additional stem cell lines are promising, but moving forward in a manner that shows ethical responsibility is essential. I believe the NIH decision will widen the common ground regarding the issues of compassion, and respect for life."
Stephen Schneck, Director, Life Cycle Institute, The Catholic University of America:
"Massively increasing funding for non-embryonic stem cell research, tightly restricting informed consent rules for all cell lines, limiting federal funding only to embryonic cell lines created from discarded IVF treatments... this is clearly a major step toward the common ground most Americans are now demanding."
Brian McLaren, author/activist:
"Two mistakes are frighteningly easy to make when it comes to scientific innovations like stem cell research. One is to slam on the brakes and shout an unthinking "no" to everything. The other is to step on the gas and give an uncritical "yes" to everything. The NIH's proposed guidelines, it seems to me, avoid both of these extremes, and offer wise parameters as we take tentative steps into unexplored scientific and moral territory."
Thomas J. Reese, S.J., Senior Fellow, Woodstock Theological Center, Georgetown University:
"Although the guidelines will not satisfy those who want no embryonic stem cell research, they do show that the administration takes seriously the need for ethical guidelines for scientific research. I am especially pleased that research will be limited to stem cell created from embryos that would have been destroyed anyway because they are no longer needed for IVF purposes. I am also pleased by the strong rules for informed consent."
Charles C. Camosy, PhD, Assistant Professor of Christian Ethics, Fordham University:
"These draft guidelines are encouraging because, in refusing to fund research on cloned embryos, they acknowledge the need for the pursuit of science to be disciplined by ethics. This is an important first principle to ingrain into our national discussion on these topics--and perhaps it will serve as a foundation for further regulation of research, now technologically outdated, which destroys the most vulnerable members of our species."
The United Methodist Church (America's second largest Protestant denomination), every major Jewish denomination (including Orthodox), the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Episcopal Church, and the United Church of Christ also all officially support carefully regulated embryonic stem cell research on embryos slated to be discarded.
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