Carey Conference 2011 02

Our second paper at Carey was from John Ling from Aberystwyth who for over 30 years has been looking at subjects to do with what can be called the culture of death. (See website here). At one time it was chiefly abortion - a single issue almost - however, by now a long list of issues can be made in this area. Dr Ling reminded us that those who sit before ministers today are all impacted by issues of life and death. Think of

1. Infertility - it affects 1 in 6 couples 2. Teenage pregnancy - 41, 361 girls under 18 in England and Wales last year 3. Abortion - 1 in 4 pregnancies end in abortion 4. Predisposition 5. Suicide - 1 every 80 minutes 6. STDs 7. Mental illness 8. Illegitimate children - 46% and rising 9. Death - 100% affected!

Against this background he asserted the biblical world view. He reminded us, quoting many Scriptures, that

1. Human life is unique and special

2. Human life begins at conception (utilising the Lennart Nilsson pictures he guided at this point on the journey from zygote to death. More here.)

3. Human life requires stewardship

4. Human life ends in natural death

5. Taking innocent human life is forbidden

6. Human life demands special care

He went on to look at four subjects with powerful factual statements.

1. Abortion

195, 743 in England and Wales in 2009. The population of Swansea or Dundee. 750 every day. Worldwide there are millions being killed. Staggering.

2. Stem cell technology

In an effort to save lives regenerative medicine attempts to use embryonic stem cells to help people. However, other sources can be found such as umbilical blood, fat, etc. Further Yamanaka in Japan has developed a way of producing stem cells (iPS cells) from ordinary cells. These are ideal for treatments and soon there will be no argument for use of embryonic cells. See here.

3. Assisted Reproductive Technologies

There are many bioethical dilemmas in this area

1. Unknown thousands of orphaned, human embryos, frozen for 5, 10, 15 years

2. Treatment of post-menopausal women

3. Grandmothers giving birth to grandchildren

4. Babies with 5 parents - 3 mums and 2 dads

5. "Making children" v "normative parenthood"

6. A mild eugenics programme

7. Treatment costs

8. Psychological costs

9. Relationship tests

10. Inevitable feelings of failure - 76.3% of attempts fail

11. Multiple pregnancy dangers

12. Production of spare embryos (214,177 annually). Some 101, 972 are destroyed annually

Some 104 babies have already been born through an alternative treatment - NPT. See here.

4. Euthanasia and assisted dying

The Remmelink Report tells us that voluntary euthanasia inevitably leads to non-voluntary euthanasia. In Holland a quarter of cases involved botched attempts.

We need to seek a better theology of death and dying.

As in the first session a good short question time followed. Dr Ling then exhorted us to do five things

1. Pray

2. Educate

3. Agitate

4. Care

5. Join and give