Science, morality, and stem cells

President Obama's stem-cell policy "one of those definitional 'change we can believe in' moments," said John Nichols in The Nation. By reversing George W. Bush's ban on federal funding for research using new embryonic stem-cell lines, Obama is making it clear that "science and morality can mix."

No, he's showing that science and politics can mix, said Robert P. George and Eric Cohen in The Wall Street Journal. "Bush's policy was one of moderation," because it permitted the science to continue without encouraging the destruction of human embryos. Obama is pretending to be calm and moderate while advancing radical policies that "will promote a whole new industry of embryo creation and destruction," funded by taxpayers.

"If you support this research, congratulations: You won," said William Saletan in Slate. But, remember, this wasn't a fight between ideology and science. "It was a fight between 5-day-olds and 50-year-olds." If you ignore the losing side's main point -- that "embryos are the beginnings of people" -- you could win the stem-cell debate but lose your soul.

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