Synod President Gerald B. Kieschnick issued a statement July 26 saying that the Synod “applauds President Bush’s veto last Wednesday [July 19] of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, which would have expanded federal funding for human embryonic stem-cell research.
“Individual human life begins at conception,” Kieschnick said in the statement. “It should therefore be protected by the laws of our land.”
The rest of the statement read as follows:
“While we in the LCMS support research that offers the hope of cures of illnesses of all kinds, we do not believe that the end justifies the means, that destroying one life — a living embryo — to seek a medical remedy for another is morally justifiable.
“The LCMS holds, as our Commission on Theology and Church Relations states in its report, ‘Christian Faith and Human Beginnings,’ that the biblically-based principle ‘always to care, never to kill’ is also applicable to pre-implantation human life.
“It is our prayer that those scientists who have supported this Act will now concentrate their efforts — with the same zeal they have had for embryonic stem-cell research — on the untapped potential of research on stem cells which do not necessitate the death of living embryos.
“We commend President Bush for his strong stance on this issue and his unwavering commitment to protecting the innocent lives that might otherwise be taken in the name of research.”
Posted Aug. 31, 2006
