On Sunday night, January 27, 2002, Kempsville Presbyterian Church in Virginia Beach hosted a forum on stem cell research to which the local faith community was invited. The event was sponsored by the Crisis Pregnancy Center of Tidewater, Inc. The purpose of this forum was to form a Biblical consensus out of the diverse perspectives of pro-life organizations represented on the panel.

The opening keynote presentation was given by Dr. Joseph Kickasola, a faculty member of the Robertson School of Government at Regent University. Dr. Kickasola touched upon the topic from the standpoint of scientific truth regarding biochemistry and embryology, Biblical pro-scientific truth on what human-ness is from God’s perspective as recorded in Psalm 139, and personhood as defined by the process of man’s becoming a spiritual entity with a soul. In conclusion, Dr. Kickasola asserts that humanness is determined by having a total design and a capacity to be human, that the embryo is biologically human after fertilization, and that ensoulment takes place before the embryo begins to look even “human.” Since the Bible teaches the sanctity of human life, there is a duty to protect life at its earliest stage – even in opposition to embryonic stem cell research which automatically results in the death of the embryo.

Fiona Givens, former Communications Director for VSHL, admonished everyone to “beware of anyone who would call a rose by any other name and insist that it is not a rose.” With reference to her televised debate with Edie Harrison, representing the Jones Institute, on the Joel Rubin Show, Mrs. Givens compared the language twisting done by those promoting embryonic stem cell research to that done by those promoting abortion on demand. In particular, they say that an embryo that has not yet implanted itself into the mother’s womb is called a “pre-embryo” and can be legitimately harvested for medical research. On the other hand, the embryo that has managed to implant itself into the mother’s womb can be called just that. This contradicts the American Medical Association’s 1989 definition of the embryonic stage as being from conception to eight weeks. Furthermore, Mrs. Givens cited the study in which patients suffering from Parkinson’s Disease were injected with embryonic fetal tissue. The results were catastrophic. The subjects exhibited wild, uncontrollable movements and pieces of hair, bone, and teeth were found embedded in their brain tissues. In contrast, according to an article in the January 23, 2002 issue of The New Scientist, adult stem cells have been used with dramatically beneficial results and hold tremendous promise for medical research and treatment.

The consensus that emerged is that, while adult stem cell research can be encouraged, embryonic stem cell research, much less human cloning, cannot be justified within the Judeo-Christian faith community. Other organizations represented at the forum panel included the Family Foundation, the Crisis Pregnancy Center, Kempsville Presbyterian Church, and Life Ministries, Inc.

About 125 persons attended.

Published in VSHL Lifesaver, April 2002

NOTE: The June Lifesaver will contain the following CORRECTION:

In the article on Tidewater Forum on Stem Cell Research in the April, 2002 Lifesaver, the medical results cited by Fiona Givens on page 7 were reported incorrectly. The patients suffering from Parkinson’s Disease who were injected with fetal tissue did exhibit wild, uncontrollable movements but the rest of the sentence related to a different case. The pieces of hair, bone and teeth were found in the tumor of a patient in China whose brain had been injected with embryonic stem cells and who eventually died from cancer.