Bringing the Gospel of Life to American Jurispurdence: A Religious, Ethical and Philosophical Critique of Federal Funding for Embryonic Stem Cell Research
![handle is hein.journals/jchlp17 and id is 843 raw text is: BRINGING THE GOSPEL OF LIFE TO
AMERICAN JURISPRUDENCE:
A RELIGIOUS, ETHICAL AND
PHILOSOPHICAL CRITIQUE OF FEDERAL
FUNDING FOR EMBRYONIC STEM CELL
RESEARCH
Sharon M. Parker*
INTRODUCTION
The biological revolution of the twentieth century has forever
changed the course of human history. Our newfound ability to create and
manipulate the very matter of which we are made has enormous potential
for both good and evil. What was once confined to the pages of literature
and science fiction has now become an everyday reality.1 With it has
come the temptation to embrace a certain Promethean attitude2 that
denies any limits to what humans can and should do in striving for
knowledge and improvement. This is nowhere more evident than in the
* J.D. Candidate 2001, Columbus School of Law, The Catholic University of
America; J.C.L. 1996, Pontifical Gregorian University; S.T.B. 1994, Pontifical
University of St. Thomas Aquinas; B.A. 1990, University of San Francisco. The
author thanks Michael Moses and Richard Doerflinger for their guidance, and her
parents, Bill and Carol Parker, for the gift of life.
1. See, e.g., JOHANN WOLFGANG GOETHE, FAUST (New Directions, 1941)
(1805); MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT SHELLEY, FRANKENSTEIN: OR, THE MODERN
PROMETHEUS (Signet Books, 1983) (1816).
2. See JOHN PAUL II, EVANGELIUM VITAE (THE GOSPEL OF LIFE), 15
(1995) [hereinafter Evangelium Vitae]. For ease of reference, papal encyclicals are
cited by paragraph numbers rather than page numbers.
3. According to legend, Prometheus was a Titan who stole fire from Olympus
and gave it to mankind. For this, the gods punished him by chaining him to a
rock, where an eagle came each day and ate his liver. The Promethean figure
may be described as one who is constantly striving to unlock the secrets of nature
and who refuses to acknowledge any limits to the human mind's capacity to
understand them. Such an individual might even covet the knowledge of God.
RAYMOND DENNEHY, THE BIOLOGICAL REVOUTION AND THE MYTH OF
PROMETHEUS, in POPE JOHN PAUL II LECTURE SERIES IN BIOETHICS, VOL. II,
BIOETHICAL ISSUES 7, 8 (Francis J. Lescoe and David Q. Liptak eds., 1986). The
author is indebted to Dr. Dennehy for the opening thoughts in this article.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/jchlp17&div=30&collection=journals&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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