The American Spectator

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br> -- Greg Barnard br> Franklin, TN /p> p> THINK AGAIN br> Re: George Neumayr's The Press Gets Rael : /p>

I typically agree with all the positions in your pointed and well argued essays and especially applaud your stalwart defense of orthodox catholic Christianity. Your piece on cloning (January 7), however, was not up to your standard.

As regards grammar, "media" is a plural not singular noun. This is a common error but one I would not expect from a writer of your skills.

With respect to the content, I believe that your mind has closed too quickly on the subject. Indeed, even among us "orthodox" Roman Catholics a discussion of first principles is required on the subject of advances in reproductive technologies before it can be condemned in its entirety.

The subject of "therapeutic" human cloning is a good case on point. I agree that the harvesting of fertilized human embryos for research purposes is an abomination, clearly the exploitation of a unique human being. But, what of the case of genetic material being inserted into an unfertilized egg? By my way of thinking, an unfertilized egg is not a unique human being, not an embryo at all, not different in any material or metaphysical respect from any group of human cells.

So why do some on our side of the fence argue that this practice must be banned? Perhaps they are right. But good arguments need to be put forth defending that position. So far, I have heard none and the one that you seem to put forth in the essay -- let's call it the Pandora's Box approach -- seems less than Aristotelian.

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