cloning

             Human life is made in the image of God.
             Each person is an icon or word of God.
             Jesus Christ, God's uncreated word, became a true human being when he was born to Mary. .
             God didn't make Jesus, Jesus was begotten by an act of love. .
             Jesus was not an inferior product of his Father, but was one with him. .
             Thus Jesus' dignity was not inferior to that of his Father.
             If a human being is begotten through an act of marital love, he will have the same dignity and respect as his parents. .
             If a human being is made by a cloning process involving other people as well, his life will not have been begotten in a way similar to that of Jesus, and his dignity will not have been respected in the same way. .
             But: (and it's a hugely important but).
             Those who argue in this way would also say that every human being, however created, must always be accepted as a gift and blessing of God.
             There are non-religious arguments against human cloning that say that cloning doesn't respect human dignity. .
             Cloning reduces human beings to manufactured products.
             Some people think that the way a person comes into being affects their value - or their dignity. .
             People should be made by an act of love between their parents, not by a laboratory process. .
             o But when you think what the couple would have to go through to make a cloned baby, you could hardly argue that this wasn't an enormous act of love - it's just a different sort of act of love.
             Supposing a particular embryo turns out to be very good - someone could patent its genes and use it to manufacture lots of similar clones for profit. That would degrade people. .
             o That could happen, and it might be degrading. .
             o A country could pass laws to forbid that sort of activity, so there's no need to ban cloning altogether.
             Because they're not naturally made, a clone isn't a real person. .
             o Why not? .
             o How could you spot a clone if he was on his own? .
             o And why would it matter: "How could we expect God to treat anyone born through cloning any different from the rest of us?" Ted Peters, professor at Pacific Lutheran Seminary.