Medical Ethics

Older woman lying in hospital bed alone looking at the Christian crucifix asking for her healing.

^{Wesley J. Smith
February 25, 2022
Human Exceptionalism}

Legalizing ‘Medical Aid in Dying’ Normalizes Suicide

_{Wesley J. Smith
February 25, 2022
Human Exceptionalism}

Here’s the advocacy scam: “Death with dignity” activists push suicide facilitation for some people—but still claim to oppose suicide per se because they call doctor-prescribed death by the euphemism, “medical aid in dying” (MAID). Read More ›

^{John G. West
October 8, 2021
Faith & Science}

NIH Director Francis Collins Isn’t A National Treasure, He’s A National Disgrace

_{John G. West
October 8, 2021
Faith & Science}

For more than 12 years, Collins served his purpose at NIH by providing cover for the secularists to do what they wanted to do anyway. That’s not something to celebrate. It’s something to grieve. Read More ›

Process of in vitro fertilization in laboratory

^{Wesley J. Smith
April 21, 2017
Human Exceptionalism}

Abusing Science in the Name of “Science”

_{Wesley J. Smith
April 21, 2017
Human Exceptionalism}

Science shouldn’t be controversial. Why would it be? Natural science offers powerful methods for learning about the universe. Given the benefits that, over the centuries, have been derived from these methods, who on earth isn’t “pro-science?” Read More ›

^{Wesley J. Smith
July 16, 2002
Human Exceptionalism}

Brave New Clarity

_{Wesley J. Smith
July 16, 2002
Human Exceptionalism}

Last Thursday, the President’s Council on Bioethics issued its first public-policy recommendations on the issue of human cloning. The report was thorough, well articulated, and exhibited a refreshing moral clarity. That stated, however, my view of the report is mixed. My first impression is that the news is mildly bad, somewhat indifferent, but also very good. Let me explain. FALLING Read More ›

Hallstatt square in Austria Alps mountain

^{Nancy Pearcey
September 15, 2000
Intelligent Design}

A New Foundation for Positive Cultural Change

_{Nancy Pearcey
September 15, 2000
Intelligent Design}

Pinker argues that the fundamental premise of ethics has been disproved by science. "Ethical theory," he writes, "requires idealizations like free, sentient, rational, equivalent agents whose behavior is uncaused." Yet, "the world, as seen by science, does not really have uncaused events." Read More ›

^{Robert J. Cihak and Michael Arnold Glueck
August 8, 2000
Intelligent Design}

Doing the DNA dance

_{Robert J. Cihak and Michael Arnold Glueck
August 8, 2000
Intelligent Design}

The uncoiling, unraveling and decoding of the DNA structure by the Humane Genome Project and the Celera Genomics Group is a magnificent scientific achievement and monumental medical milestone. But what does it really mean to the rest of us mortals? To begin with, it means much less than most people think, hope or worry. As diagnostic physicians, we've been trying to come up with a good analogy. Perhaps figuring out the sequence of the chemical elements in human DNA is like finding a huge pile of ancient document scraps in an unknown language and using computers to help sort out the correct order and position of the symbols. But even when sorted out, how could we figure out what the symbols mean? In DNA, scientists have figured out the ordering of the language symbols but don't know what most of the message means. Read More ›

^{Wesley J. Smith
February 14, 2000
Human Exceptionalism}

The Death of Us

_{Wesley J. Smith
February 14, 2000
Human Exceptionalism}

The Definition of Death, Contemporary Controversies, edited by Stuart J. Youngner, Robert, M. Arnold, and Renie Schapiro. Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 346 pp., $ 54 In just thirty years, bioethics has grown from a group of ruminating philosophers and theologians into one of the country’s most fiercely secularized and influential intellectual forces. Bioethicists sit on presidential advisory commissions, teach in Read More ›