Fundamental ethical issues arising from advances in biological science and technology have become legislative and regulatory issues as well. At first these issues were direct corollaries of the public debate on abortion and divided policymakers along similar lines. They have moved into areas once considered to be science fiction: Human cloning and “fetus farming” for research purposes; patenting of human embryos, or of human/animal hybrids; “three-parent” (or multiple parent) children; redefining life and death in the name of human well-being. Increasingly, ethical concerns about those subjected to these experiments are countered not only by claims about advancing life and health for others, but also by a claim about the preeminent value of scientific progress for its own sake – and this claim is often combined with claims about religion as an irrational and obstructive force. The irony is that “science” threatens to become the new religion of the 21st century, supplanting all others, and objective fact may play a dwindling role in defending this agenda or planning its future.