Cloning is the propagation of a cell or an organism as a clone of another. A series of successful historical landmarks in genetic engineering that began as early as 1885 when a sea urchin was used to demonstrate artificial embryo twinning by Hans Adolf and Edward Dreisch lead to cloning as we know it when the first mammal was successfully cloned in 1996. The clone named Dolly brought to light the possibilities of cloning. In 2013, the greatest landmark was reached, and Human Embryonic stem cells were created through somatic cell nuclear transfer (Roleff 19).
There has been an intense debate in society about this issue. Different schools of thought have brought sane and also absurd reasoning either agreeing to or disagreeing with cloning (Genetic Science Learning Center 1). The major or key players in this debate mainly being religious groups in their constant quest to prove the existence of a God and science-based groups in their quest too to disprove the existence of a God. Other schools of thought have based their arguments on ethics and morals that govern science or human interactions.
Cloning is ‘playing God.'
Cloning is indeed an act of imitation of God. I base my argument on a theological, religious and moral standpoint. God in Christianity is seen as a God of perfection; he created the earth in a particular pattern. In the process of creation, death was also included. Death can be seen as an act of population control. Human cloning seems to bypass the purpose of death. The earth already has a very large and uncontrolled population growth rate, this coupled with the ability propagate the human race unnaturally then will have catastrophic extents.
This argument though has a loophole as in the account of creation; death was in itself a curse to Adam and Eve and it can be argued that had they not committed the sin then humans would have eternal life and in that time frame between creation and now, then the earth would have been overpopulated. The argument is also only valid if it is proven beyond a doubt that God does indeed exist.
The ability to give form and life to a creature will also give the maker the ability to take life away from it. By cloning, the scientist sees the human or animal clone as a subject and less as a human being. This strength is a reserve of God. The giving and taking of life in many cultures is seen as the reserve of a supreme being. Handing over this ability to man is indeed making him God over those he makes (Kass & Wilson 9). History has seen that men who saw themselves as Gods ended up bringing civilizations to the ground and supporting dictatorship regimes such as Adolf Hitler, who viewed himself as God and believed to reign supreme over people (Overy 1). The Pharaohs of Egypt also had a superior God complex that made them feel like they deserved to be treated like Gods. One may also, to object to this argument that only humans of particular character traits and degrees of insanity get to the extents of seeing themselves as supreme and that the scientists who shall take over genetics are of sane and sound mind and have the intellectual capacity to undertake such a procedure with utmost respect and regard to human life.
Cloning has been seen as a great resource for scientific research, I agree. Good results have been achieved in the advancement of modern medicine but, performing experiments on humans is wholly unethical, making a man or woman so as to fill them with disease and carry out research on them is an inhumane activity whether or not the human is from a family or just made in a lab. Various cultures on earth have seen disease and such as curses from God. Doesn’t this, by all means register to them as playing God? These acts make one see the scientists as people trying to outdo God.
Final stand
I still believe that cloning is an act of imitation and playing God, though an open minded person, I see that these facts shall make cloning continue to receive much criticism from many groups.
Works Cited
Genetic Science Learning Center. "The History of Cloning." Learn Genetics. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 May 2016.
Kass, Leon, and James Q. Wilson. The Ethics of Human Cloning. Washington: AEI Press, 1998. Print.
Overy, R J. The Dictators: Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia. Princeton: Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic, 2006. Print.
Roleff, Tamara L. Cloning. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Print.
