Introducing Faith-Based Claims to Ethical Discourse on Scientific Matters

Abstract

For the majority of the human community, the questions posed by heritable genome editing regarding the meanings of human life draw on various religious perspectives. Deliberations about genome editing would benefit from thinking about religious concerns in non-reductionist and non-instrumental terms. While it is often suggested that the scientific community is intolerant of religious views, it is often not the scientific community but those working in philosophy and religion who self-censor religious language. Rather than merely including people who are conversant in the language of religion or trying to derive an ethical Esperanto from generic religious beliefs, I advocate in this Perspective for the inclusion of people who voice their ethical commitments in the theological principles of their particular religious commitments.