Open letter to the clergy: we need guidance

I have become a popular booking for churches in my area. One church has had me speak 4 times this last year. This is not because I am the greatest speaker in the area. It is because the congregation is hungry for answers.

I have realized that there is a need; a great need for guidance from the clergy on issues of biotechnology and yet they are often silent or have nothing of real substance to say. I understand why. This is a huge and confusing field. But, your congregations need you to get educated and give them some guidance.

Case in point is this article from New Zealand about a new Anglican dean who basically has no real guidance to offer. Here are some excerpts with some harsh commentary:

Auckland's new Anglican dean, Ross Bay, wants the church to embrace
genetic engineering to cure disabilities such as Down syndrome - but he
draws the line at parents deciding they don't want a baby with red hair.

Mr
Bay, 42, vicar of St Mark's Church in Remuera, will replace Richard
Randerson as Dean of Holy Trinity Cathedral in Parnell in November.

He supports parents' right to abort a fetus that was diagnosed with a
disability such as spina bifida and said the same principle should
apply to new techniques that might knock out the genes for conditions
such as Down syndrome.

I am sorry Mr. Bay, I cannot see how curing Down syndrome with gene therapy and aborting a fetus with spina bifida are even close to morally equivalent. One is about healing a person with a disability, the other is about getting rid of a person with a disability.

There is more. When asked about where the line should be drawn regarding eugenic abortion, he has this to say:

But what about the child born with red hair? What do we say about the ethics of [influencing] that?" he said.

"Those are the two extremes. There's going to be a lot in the middle.
Intelligence? I don't know that I know the answer but I'm interested."

If you are going to say that it is okay to abort certain children and not others, you dang well better know where you want to draw the line. If you don't know the "answer", find it because your congregations needs straight answers.

Unfortunately, Bay and the Anglican church are not willing to give them:

He said the church's role was to help people to think about the issues, but it did not want to lay down the law.

"Gone are the days when most people in the church want to impose an ethic on people," he said.

When couples asked him about whether to abort a child diagnosed with spina bifida, he did not tell them what to do.

"It's
a pretty tough decision for parents to make when faced with that
information about the quality of life [of their prospective child]," he
said.

"I'd hate to be a decision-maker. I wouldn't want to condemn people in those situations making a decision about abortion.

Mr. Bay, you are a leader in your church, not these couples' best friend. You can tell them about the church's stance on the sanctity of life without "condemning them." Ultimately it is their decision, but they came to you for advice, give them some!

So here is my plea to clergy everywhere. Get educated on issues of reproductive technologies, genetics, genetic engineering and biotechnology and help your flock deal with these very pressing issues. If you feel you cannot speak on such issues, find someone who can and then attend the talk. Most priests do not attend my talks. Not surprisingly, the much needed information I have to give never makes it to the pulpit.