Stem Cell Research

[dcseain]

A friend of mine is on a pre-med track. He's been assigned to research Religious, spcefically denominational, views of stem cell research. We found data on the topic from a variety of Abramic groups, including but not limited to: UUs, Witnesses, Roman Catholics, Reform Jews, Consevative Jews, Muslims, and and many other groups. One Abrahamic group we found no info on the topic for was the Religious Society of Friends.

So, if you be Friend, Buddhist, what-have-you, does your religious denomination/path have a position on stem cells and stem cell research? Please identify the denomination/path and provide references when possible. Thank you.

Comments

[melted-snowball.livejournal.com]

It's pretty damn hard to generalize about Friends, because we have a ton of internal theological differences due to several 19th century schisms; at this point, Quakerism is three, even four, different religions that share a common name. We also practice congregation-level discernment, so different groups could discern different positions.

I have deep concerns about stem-cell research, though they mostly come from the belief that many scientists and atheists have that it's just "obvious" that any right-thinking person would support it. But I don't recall the topic having ever come up in Meeting before.