Meaning of Life at Heart of Stem-Cell Debate

The next step in the debate over the value of human life is stem cell research. Even some with impeccable pro-life records are favoring the taking of stem cells from embryos and aborted babies before they can be discarded so that people with Parkinson's and other diseases might be helped. It sounds noble, but it isn't.

The question is, who is the author of life? If the answer is anything but God, then there should be no restrictions on any kind of experiments with human life because we are, as Francis Schaeffer used to observe, material and energy shaped by pure chance in a random universe. But if we are unique creatures who have been made in the image of God, we should have stopped devaluing ourselves long before we got to the debate over stem-cell research.

It is never right to do wrong in order to do right. Blacks, Indians and Jews are only three groups who have in the past been declared nonpersons. We now understand that was wrong, but why? For the same reason that killing babies and stealing their cells is wrong. President Bush should prohibit it.