[ExI] The imams and advanced bioscience in Iran

[Tom Nowell]

The article Damian posted said that in the UK the Catholic church was leading opposition to embryo research. Lee asked why the Catholic church, and why didn't the author mention the Anglican church?

 Well, the short answer is that most of the opposition to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill (latest legislation affecting embryo research, reproductive medicine and abortion) that you see in the UK media has come from Catholic priests and politicians who are playing to the religious/moral majority crowd.

  There may be many Anglican priests who have issues with the new legislation, but either they're too busy with the whole gay priests, women bishops, and all the other potentially schism-causing issues paralysing the Anglican Communion, or their voices have been drowned out by Catholic priests in the media.

It is interesting to note that in terms of weekly churchgoers, the Catholic and Anglican churches are almost level in the UK. Most "Anglicans" only go to church for a Christmas service or a christening/ wedding/ funeral. 

The article is from a UK newspaper, so presumably the writer didn't feel the need to mention the details of the UK politics of embryo research, as anyone reading that newspaper's articles on the Iranian viewpoint would probably have read the same newspaper's coverage of the UK political debates.

Currently leading a facebook group encouraging people to support the HFE Bill is the UK transhumanist association's Darren Reynolds. He's getting people to lobby their politicians and write to newspapers (and all your other staples of citizen activism) to say that the new legislation is well thought-out and will work well (makes a change for government legislation eh?)

Tom

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