As one Christian to another..

I have cone to know Cardinal Keith O’Brien reasonably well over the last 6 or so years and I hold him in high regard. he is deeply faithful man who is able to be both a pastor and a leader of those who hold allegiance to him and his church. But on the issue of embryo research and his comments about Gordon Brown and the up coming votes on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill he is wrong. wrong because this work values human life and is a real response to human suffering, This work will help heal and save lives not destroy humanity as he suggest.

I do not believe , as he does, that human life as we understand it begins as the point of conception, nor do I attribute a soul as he and I would understand such a thing to that same point of conception. A 14 day old embryo cannot survive as a viable human life, but yet by being used for research it can bring renewed life to others whose suffering will otherwise continue until their death.

I understand why, given his world view, that the Cardinal says what he says. But, as Christian and as a fellow human being, I have to say that on this at least, he is wrong.