Stem Cells on Trial

A U.S. District Court judge has cut off public funding for stem cell research because embryos would be destroyed in the process; this decision has allowed fundamentalist groups to force their will on the public.

What a judge in the United States has decided doesn’t mean the end of all hope for millions of patients. He may have enforced the decision to ban the use of embryonic stem cells in medical research because embryos would be killed in the process, but there is a sufficient number of other research groups — both in America and around the world — working with stem cells to benefit those who suffer from diabetes or spinal cord damage. The judge’s decision only shows that fundamentalist Christian groups are able to force their will on the U.S. president and a progressive-thinking majority of Americans. The debate over creationism, the attempt to establish religious creation belief as science, has already shown that the United States has fallen victim to its own magnificent liberality.

The promise that every person is free to practice his or her own religious beliefs must apply in both directions. Religious groups in a secular nation should not be permitted to impose their views on anyone who thinks differently than they do.