Alter one molecule, go to Hell
Posted on March 18th, 2008 by blue collar scientistI want to take a slightly different look at the Catholic Church’s new “mortal sins” than the perspectives I’ve seen in the blogosphere over the last few days.
Imagine for a moment that you have a job in a laboratory. You have a very long polymer in your test tube, and your job is to add a chemical to that test tube that cuts the molecule in half and snips a little segment out of the newly-formed ends. Then you add a new chemical that rebuilds the recently-destroyed ends with new sequence, then stitches them back together. When this process1 is completed, you inject the polymer into a bilayer lipid membrane, go home, and enjoy hearty meal and a good night’s sleep.
If you do this, the Catholic Church warns that you are going to Hell. The long polymer in my example is a piece of human DNA.
Let’s say you have exactly the same job, fiddling with these molecules in test tubes, but your work eventually leads to the ability to grow human transplant organs in pigs. Hundreds of thousands of people’s lives are saved by this capability, who otherwise would have died on a transplant waiting list, or as a consequence of organ rejection.
Well, guess what? If you heal all these people, you are going to Hell.
You would go to hell even if you removed the duplicate 21st chromosome from a single-celled trisomy-21 embryo (trisomy 21 is the cause of Downs syndrome), thus relieving a human life of considerable suffering and difficulty learning and communicating - to say nothing of helping the baby’s parents. Genetic manipulation is genetic manipulation, and healing people is no excuse according to the church. Split some DNA, and you will meet Satan the instant you die, for the Catechism of the Catholic Church says:
Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into Hell.
A lot of the blogosphere’s coverage of this issue has been pretty laid back - just poo-pooing the Catholic Church’s ignorant railing against some obscure scientific discipline. Which is fine as far as it goes. But I want it to go farther:
The Catholic Church hasn’t condemned some vague activity called “genetic engineering.” They’ve condemned people, whose job it is to take some chemicals and use them to alter other chemicals. They’ve condemned some very nice, virtuous people who, by doing this stuff with chemicals, have, and will continue to, alleviate human suffering on a massive scale.
- which I have simplified to excess. [↩]
Tags: biochemistry, birth defect, birth defects, Catholic, chemistry, chromosome, church, downs syndrome, engineering, genetic, genetic engineering, hell, mortal sins, new sins, trisomy 21
March 18th, 2008 at 9:32 am
This whole process has been difficult to watch unfold. And you’re right–most of the blogosphere coverage has just been kind of “from the ivory tower,” as it were, with lots of head-shaking and sighing.
But it really is more serious than that. The Church continues to ignorantly condemn science for no good reason. Sometimes I think they just like bringing controversy to the table, to continue the war on science.
March 18th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Puhlease! Folks with Tri 21 do NOT have “considerable suffering”. In fact, they probably suffer at a rate significantly lower than “normal” people. Maybe you should ponder a way to give us all an extra 21st!
March 18th, 2008 at 10:24 am
Julia,
Well, if you want an extra 21st chromosome, go for it! Just be aware that the Catholic Church says the technician who gives it to you will go to Hell. It cuts both ways like that, I guess.
But I really must disagree with your assertion that people with Downs syndrome do not suffer considerably, even on average. I’ve known seven people with Downs syndrome in my lifetime, some of them fairly well. Several are unable to speak, because their mouths are too small relative to the hardware (teeth, tongue) that must fit inside there. Although they can hear and understand speech, they are unable to speak clearly enough to be generally understood. As a consequence, they encounter severe social misunderstanding and ostracization.
Both those who are unable to speak, and those who are, were subjected to the lengthy and difficult ministrations of a speech and language pathologist. Which may not be so very bad, but is by no means considered to be painless by most of those who have had such experiences.
Two had to have repeated painful dental surgeries to remove teeth as they were growing, for which there was no room in the undersized mouth, and to change the configuration of bone in the jaw.
Four or five have or have had gastroesophogeal reflux disease, due to to the way the stomach and esophagus develop in Downs syndrome. This is not a pleasant condition to have.
All but one (as far as I know) has had obstructive sleep apnea, a consequence of the oral and sinus deformities that are common in Downs syndrome. Both apnea and sleep deprivation are, apparently, currently in use by the United States in torturing suspected terrorists, so I’d say there must be some suffering involved there.
All of the adults have faced considerable discrimination in getting a job. One experienced periods of extreme poverty during times of unemployment.
Two suffered lingering, painful deaths due to the congenital heart defects that are common with Downs syndrome.
Whilst all of these friends were very cheerful and loving - in fact, more so than the average “normal,” making them, to my mind, far better people than many I have known - and while all had personalities and interests that were interesting to me, it would nevertheless be shockingly callous to say they had not suffered considerably from their condition. Each of them (except the four-year old daughter of one of my best friends, who is shy with me) has frankly told me in which ways they suffer, and how much they abhor it. And to say that those who endured for years with the wracking chest pain of a heart condition, slowly getting worse and worse, until eventually they die - well, not acknowledging their suffering is dismissive of the people who experienced it.
While I recognize anyone can lead a fulfilling, happy life, and while I see that these people I know have, and are, I choose not to disrespect the experience of these friends by denying an important part of what made them the people they are.
March 19th, 2008 at 4:08 am
In a rather ironic and disgusting quote from the article:
“The archbishop brushed off cases of sexual violence against minors committed by priests as “exaggerations by the mass media aimed at discrediting the Church”.