Pages

Welcome to Varied Expressions of Worship

Welcome to Varied Expressions of Worship

This blog will be written from an orthodox Christian point of view. There may be some topic that is out of bounds, but at present I don't know what it will be. Politics is a part of life. Theology and philosophy are disciplines that we all participate in even if we don't think so. The Bible has a lot to say about economics. How about self defense? Is war ethical? Think of all the things that someone tells you we should not touch and let's give it a try. Everything that is a part of life should be an expression of worship.

Keep it courteous and be kind to those less blessed than you, but by all means don't worry about agreeing. We learn more when we get backed into a corner.

Friday, July 5, 2013

Opus 2013-216: Headlines: Stem Cells Are Not All the Same

I saw a headline on The Drudge Report that seemed to indicate that stem cells had been used to cure AIDS.  The headline of the article seemed to imply the same thing.  It was an interesting article about some medical experiments.  Two men were treated with bone marrow from someone resistant to HIV and they have been able to stop their anti-retroviral therapy.  So far it looks good.  That was the encouraging information.  Go team.

What caught my attention was the subtle slant.  The news media is playing the issue of stem cell research to advance a position.  In doing so they deceive the public and make it less likely we will see some medical breakthroughs.  Those of us that are concerned about the ethical issues involved in research have a problem with using the stem cells harvested from tissue produced from abortion.  We don’t like the idea of opening a door to killing in order to experiment.  It seems ethically wrong to us.

We have no problem with research done with stem cells gathered from adults.  That is the procedure in the article but that key fact is totally ignored.  If you read carefully and know what you are looking for it is obvious that it was adult stem cells.  If all you did was read the headline you would miss that totally.  Since all of the hype is in regard to fetal stem cells you would probably assume that lives were being saved by such research and thus the pro-life people are monsters who don’t want to save lives.

This is media manipulation.  It is dishonest without telling a lie.  My understanding is that there has been significant benefit from adult stem cell research and so far nothing but speculation, hope and hype on fetal cell stem cell research.  In reality the avenue of research that we have no problem with has produced valid results.  The one we object to has been a dead end.

I know which one makes more sense to me.  Why push a political agenda that forces resources in a non-productive direction at the cost of real progress?  It seems like a death with to me.

homo unius libri

1 comment:

  1. It is a shame that there is so much of this to agree on.

    Grace and peace.

    ReplyDelete

Comments are welcome. Feel free to agree or disagree but keep it clean, courteous and short. I heard some shorthand on a podcast: TLDR, Too long, didn't read.