Human Cloning

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             Even though cloning is considered useless, the practice of cloning will violate religious ethics. These ethics are ignored when scientists take it upon themselves to develop ways to give life; therefore, scientists try to acquire godlike powers. Judeo-Christians believe that the creation of human beings in the image of God (Gen. 1.27-28) exposes the portrait of man and how God gave man the ability to bear children. Stephen G. Post, associate professor of bioethics at the Center for Biomedical Ethics at Cast Western Reserve University, claims that "[ ] cloning demonstrates a lack of respect for God and for the union of sex, marriage, love, and procreation mandated by the Hebrew Bible and adopted by Christianity" (Post 135). Catholics deem the church's "natural moral law" and forbid human cloning (Yount 133). In addition, the religion of Judaism approves of using technology to enhance nature. However, Rabbi Richard states that "[cloning] is an area where [society] cannot go. It violates the mystery of what it means to be human" (134). "[S]ince [humans] are created in the image of God, fundamentally equal, and their equality transcends all observable differences based on gender, race, class, or ethnicity" (Humber and Almeder 159). Accordingly, a person's life is in the hands of God, and He has the ability to give life and take life away. .
             Although cloning can be ineffective and violate religious beliefs, cloning also intrudes upon human dignity and distinctiveness. When taking human cloning into consideration, would a clone have the same rights and obligations as a human? Accordingly, cloning will jeopardize the sense of uniqueness and individuality of a clone. With the breakthrough of cloning at hand, parents could possibly choose characteristics they desire in a child instead letting birth happen naturally. Reproduction should be an act of love between man and woman, and not an experiment where several other human lives are taken for the sake of producing a clone.