Scientific breakthroughs, from relieving pain, to sharpening our senses, to taming once deadly diseases, have enhanced and advanced the quality of life around the world. Over the past half century alone, we’ve witnessed the development of myriad medical and biomedical technologies, yet some new advances like CRISPR, bring with them new questions. For example, gene editing holds amazing potential for curing a number of debilitating diseases such as sickle cell anemia, relieving suffering, and bringing new hope to patients and families. But the very same technology can be used in problematic ways, like in the editing of human embryos, which may carry long term consequences. In doing so, this technology may take us past the point of therapy and healing and into a place where there are, uncomfortably, more questions than answers. Which edits are acceptable? Are we wise enough to edit ourselves? What effects could editing the genetic code of an embryo have across one entire lifetime? And what would the impact be on future generations? Who will have access to the technology? Will it be a privilege available only to a select few? Will it be used for harm rather than good? What ultimately, will we be able to do? Or perhaps more urgently, in light of our capabilities, what should we do? The thing is, no one person can answer questions like these, and science alone is unable to tell us what is right and just. Instead, we need a larger conversation, one in which ethics and religion come alongside science and medicine. We need people of faith at the table. People who are well informed about new technologies, who welcome the promise of future discoveries, and who remember that before God, every life, at every stage of life, has dignity, and every person everywhere is loved. Together, we can discern when a technology might also bring harm, when a technology would only have use for enhancement or to benefit the powerful, or instead, when a technology provides true treatment, bringing relief from injuries and cures for disease. If we are wise, we can continue to reap the benefits of biomedical science, a gift from God for our health and healing.
