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Pro-life conference to explore how sci-fi storylines are now reality
Gospel of Life Conference to include sneak peek at new film by ‘Bella’ director
By Nissa LaPoint
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2011 Conference Poster |
The once popular ‘70s TV drama “The Bionic Woman” and films like “Frankenstein” showcased imaginary worlds of superhuman strength and human experimentation.
Rather than a far-fetched fiction, such advanced biotechnologies are now a reality to reckon with, according to some bioethics experts.
Christian Brugger, a professor at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary, and Father Thomas Berg, executive director of the Westchester Institute for Ethics and the Human Person, will talk about the Christian perspective on new medical and clinical technologies at the Gospel of Life Conference Oct. 22.
“Some of them are knocking at the door and others are not,” Father Berg said about biotechnologies.
“Even if not, we need to be in a position to respond to them. How we respond requires time and very careful thinking.”
The conference will start with an 8 a.m. Mass at Christ the King Chapel on the John Paul II Center campus. Then keynote speaker Father Berg will lead his talk on “Emerging Biotechnologies” and Brugger on “Transhumanism” at Bonfils Hall.
Biotechnologies are no longer a fringe part of transhumanism, which Brugger said refers to the philosophy and movement of science and clinical medicine that goes beyond therapy and healing to transform the human condition and enhance human capacities.
“It’s another whole freighting area of medicine that is coming down the pipe,” said Lynn Grandon, director of the Archdiocese of Denver’s Respect Life Office, which is sponsoring the conference. “It’s almost like the old ‘Six Million Dollar Man’ TV show where they’re putting devices into human beings and almost making them super human.”
Technology itself is not the issue in question.
“It’s what we use it for,” Brugger said.
Clinical medicine in the last few decades has had an increasing impatience for things like disability and retardation. Behind that, said Brugger, is a “frame of mind that puts this high emphasis on perfection and it’s impacting daily life.”
During the conference the speakers will address other topics like eugenics, cloning and science’s ongoing pursuit of human perfection.
“I’ll be touching on everything from where stem cell research is going to the status on human cloning and what issues may be raised by the potential for genetic profiling,” said Father Berg, who specializes in natural law theory, personhood theory and biomedical issues. Berg is also co-editor of the book “Human Embryo Adoption: Biotechnology, Marriage, and the Right to Life.”
Those who attend the conference will also see an advanced showing of a pro-life film produced by the directors of “Bella.” The 12-minute film starring former Miss USA Ali Landry and German pop star Patrick Nuo is about Beethoven’s mother and her consideration of abortion, said Josef Lipp, director of Movie to Movement, an organization that produces and promotes movies about life, love and beauty.
“It has a big twist at the end, so we usually don’t give a lot of detail,” Lipp said.
Grandon, who said she is friends with “Bella” producer Jason Jones, saw the movie and called it a shocking experience.
“It has you on the edge of your seat,” Grandon said. “At the end, you just fall backwards and you’re gasping, ‘Wow, what just happened?’”
At the end of the conference, Executive Director Jennifer Kraska of the Colorado Catholic Conference, a pro-life advocacy group on public policy, will give an update about current legislation.
On all the pro-life issues arising from biotechnologies and other medical research, Grandon said she wants attendees to leave the conference more aware of its existence and further able to engage in dialogue about it.
“We need to confront it with truth, wisdom and understanding. We don’t want to be behind the eight ball,” she said. “We want to address it from God’s point of view.”
Tickets may be purchased up to the day of the conference, although registration is encouraged by Oct. 20.
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