This article originally appeared in the Volume 2, Number 2, Fall 1996 issue of Dignity, the Center’s quarterly publication. Subscriptions to Dignitas are available to CBHD Members. To learn more about the benefits of becoming a member click here.
The first lesson in developing a Christian worldview is that we have to bring Christian truth to bear on every single walk of life. Certainly now in the genetics arena, where there are such extraordinary technological advances that need to be understood from a Christian perspective, it is critical that we understand the pressures that are quickly going to be upon us. Just think what a tempting prospect it is that we might really be able to improve the species. If we’re going to create the perfect race, then of course we have to weed out the unfit. What a temptation!
This is an example of exactly the kinds of issues we are going to be forced to face. The pressure to relieve suffering will also be quite immense. Don’t you hear it now in the debates over euthanasia? We have a right, a constitutionally protected right, to be protected from suffering. And now, with biological research, just think of the pressures that will be on all of us to decide when life is not worthy of life.
There is an enormous dilemma here for Christians. We’re not Luddites; we’re not trying to stop progress. Genetic research may lead to some very, very important medical advances. However, Christians have to provide the critical answers to the question, “What are the restraints?” Technology says you can do it, but ought you to do it? Is it something you should do? We must bring that dimension to bear. A society that can’t think about ethics is not going to be able to restrain the avalanche of medical technology and breakthroughs that will occur—that will only be used for good if some moral restraint is imposed upon them.
Charles Colson, "Genetics: The Power to Harm,” Dignity 2, no. 2 (1996): 3.