Church reiterates its opposition to cloning

The Indian Church has reiterated its opposition to cloning, warning that "copies" "will disturb the concept of variety in nature."

"Variety is the spice of life and cloning will create copies. It will disturb the concept of variety in nature," said Father Dr. Dominic Emmanuel, Director of Communications at Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI).

"Christianity teaches the role of suffering. If a couple is unable to reproduce, they should adopt a child. Going against the law of nature and creating another copy of oneself will be a step against God's will. They should pray and not clone," he said.

According to Executive Secretary of CBCI Dr. Alex, cloning exploits woman as a research tool. "Cloning uses the woman to give birth to a child that is not her own. Hence, she is used as a laboratory for the purpose. This is highly condemnable," he said.

The Christians, perhaps the first religious community to object to cloning, fear that it might kill the spiritual aspect of human beings and treat clones as objects that can be bought and sold.

The Protestant view of cloning is not much different from the Catholics and they are equally opposed to cloning. According to the Bible children should be conceived within a marital union between opposite sexes. Cloning violates God's intentions by allowing man to reproduce without sexual partner. It also allows human beings to choose the genes of their children instead of leaving it up to God. In this sense Protestants believe that humans are playing God.