Church Urges Synthetic Cell Scientists Against Playing God Again -
Scientists have released a statement saying that they have created the first synthetic cell.

They took some plasma, some DNA sequences they had lying around, slammed it all together and created a cell all by themselves. They didn’t show us how to do it on YouTube so we can only surmise that the papers they release will give a more complete picture of the procedure and then maybe Rachel Ray can show us how to make one in 30 minutes.

They are all proud of themselves and are saying things like, “it redefines man and nature,” as if man and nature were two separate entities. Harleys and nature are two separate entities but they are learning to get along.

The Catholic Church, which pretty much believes everything it reads on the internet, is having a fit about this new manufacturing business. They can’t jump on the scientists they way they used to when the Big Bang Theory was just a theory and not also a TV show. This “creation,” thing though has really struck a nerve because of the obvious, “Creator,” reference and it’s obvious they aren’t going to stay quiet on the subject.

This is reflected in the statement at an Italian bishops’ conference by Bishop Domenico Mogavero as reported by AP when he said, “Pretending to be God and parroting his power of creation is an enormous risk that can plunge men into a barbarity.”

The Church might not be so hard core if the synthetic biologists didn’t name themselves things like, Origins of Life Initiative, as the researchers at Harvard did, but you’d need a 50-page dissertation on why it’s a bad idea to convince them to re-name themselves.

I can believe that scientists plugged the right formula together to finally create a cell which then, they hope will lead to the creation of organisms in a few hundred years and then, maybe we’ll see synthetic people before their lab is struck by an asteroid before they remembered to back up their data. What is hard for me to deal with is that this is somehow the launch of a thousand robots with souls that will need to be destroyed when we find out the synthetic souls have a bad side.

We pay for these kinds of breakthroughs with government grants and private donations. We also pay for people to oversee the work and make sure scientists create hearts that will ease the need for organ donations so that families don’t lose their children to failed kidneys or lose their fathers to lungs that were destroyed by coal mines or chemical plants.

Is this the scientist playing God or is this the scientist doing God’s work?

It’s too early to tell, but I’d rather these researchers get a shot at making things right with this new synthetic cell before we shut them down for what could possibly go wrong.