20 Aug (Tue) Linda Walkup speaks at Faith Bible Church. Creating human embryos to harvest for stem cells? Ordering the genetic characteristics we desire in our children? Recreating a child lost to death through cloning? Placing human DNA into cow eggs to grow clones? Are we inevitably headed for a brave new world scenario? 
In our laudable desire to cure disease and aid infertile couples, research in genetic biotechnology and embryo manipulation has slowly but inexorably brought us to the point where the above scenarios are already taking place. Because of the pervasive teachings of evolution, human life has worth only as it is useful to the community, and so it can be manipulated and used as we will it with our new powers of genetic tinkering. Genetic species barriers are regularly breached because, after all, we are only part of a continuum of the tree of life, according to evolutionary thought. 

Dr. Linda Walkup will discuss how past legislative inaction and biotechnology-related litigation have allowed experimentation on human embryos to continue unfettered and without any government or outside ethical oversight. She will also relate recent advances in adult vs. embryonic stem cell research to separate truth from science fiction in terms of the promise they each hold for curing diseases and supplying tissue for transplants. Lastly, human cloning and the current status of legislation regulating it will be reviewed.