Science and Religion Cease Fire

[Murray Charters <mcharters@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Science and Religion Cease Fire 
By Kristen Philipkoski

02:00 AM Jun. 26, 2003 PT

WASHINGTON -- Science and religion came to an official understanding Wednesday.

The biotech industry and the largest church organization in the country signed 
a pact here to open channels of
communication between them about the promise and potential perils of 
biotechnology.

Carl Feldbaum, the president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, and 
Bob Edgar, general secretary of the
National Council of Churches, signed the agreement, saying that the 
organizations have the same ultimate goal: to
improve the quality of life for all people.

"I am not a (religiously) observant person, but that's different from being 
religious," Feldbaum said in an interview.
"It's not inconsistent to be a person of faith and a person of science."

Wednesday closed several days of meetings at the Biotechnology Industry 
Organization conference, which attracted
biotechnology executives, politicians, scientists and reporters from around the 
world.

Many of the meeting sessions brought together two entities that historically 
have been at odds: religious authorities
and the biotech industry. They discussed how ethics, morality and religion are 
part of the scientific process. Muslim,
Catholic, Episcopalian, Orthodox Jewish, Baptist and other religious leaders 
came together to hash out the roles they
play in science.

In the 1970s the American Association for the Advancement of Science declared 
science and religion mutually exclusive.
But in recent years, leaders from the two fields increasingly have communicated 
and worked together on tackling big
questions such as when life begins and the eth   icsofgeneticmanipulation.

Two years ago at the biotech organization's annual meeting, Feldbaum promised 
to encourage a dialogue between
scientific and religious leaders. Since then, the industry organization and 
religious leaders have met to discuss
issues like cloning, stem-cell research and access to the remedies biotech 
promises.

The Biotechnology Industry Organization and religious leaders organized a 
meeting in San Francisco in December to
discuss the stem-cell issue. The conversation soon turned to global health-care 
equity. Now, the biotech organization
is collaborating with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to create economic 
incentives for biotech companies
researching treatments to help people in developing countries ravaged by AIDS 
and other diseases.

Feldbaum said he realizes the political importance of consulting religious 
leaders in decisions on the direction of the
biotech industry.

"Eighty percent of Americans describe themselves as religious, and as an 
organization that relies on the good will of
the community to be able to proceed with research, it's important for us to 
listen to that," Feldbaum said. "And it's
the right thing to do."

Edgar emphasized that if religious leaders don't jump into debates about 
biological science ethics, others certainly
will.

"We often come to issues too late, after an issue is defined by some other 
entity," he said.

SOURCE: Wired News 


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