Abortion. Bionics. Cloning. Embryonic stem cells. Euthanasia. Gay rights. Genetic engineering. Organ harvesting. Sex selection.

This is a short list from a much longer one: the bioethical land mines left behind by our explosive, accelerating technology. Denial won't help. Relying on the traditional views of the sacred and skeptical-scriptures and secular law-will not help.

The degree of confusion was brought home recently, when conservative LDS Senator Orrin Hatch found himself under fire from the Religious Right because he advocated further research using embryonic stem cells.

Unfortunately, the religious rhetoric often is impenetrable. In the July 20 Utah County Journal, columnist Grace Conlon asks, "Shouldn't we be relying on a higher authority to call the shots on which couples become parents and which do not? Surely human judgment on this cannot compare with what the Almighty has planned for us." And, "With the increasing numbers of orphaned and deserted youngsters all around the world, perhaps Heavenly Father, in His omnipotent wisdom, has planned for childless couples to take up this calling. If He doesn't send children to some of us, there must be a good reason. Are we to second-guess Him?"

My dear Ms. Conlon, you may have noticed that we don't all have the same "Him"; and, frankly, we all "play God" whenever we breed flowers, livestock...and ourselves. Life and death is in our hands. It is up to us. Now what? We are left with our compassion and our honesty and our ability to learn. The science fiction future is here, now; turning away in terror from things undreamed of in the Bible gets us nowhere.

--Richard Garrard