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Topics -- Letter to Nevada's Clergy
April 29, 2002
Dear Right to Life Friend,
A vote on human cloning could happen as early as May
13th. The ethical evils that will result if cloning is
allowed need little comment.
Attached below is a letter sent to over 60 Northern Nevada
Churches by two of Nevada’s finest pastors, Dr. John
Jackson (Carson
Valley Christian Center) and Dr. Herb Ireland (Sparks
Nazarene). Attached to that are a letter to be sent
to Senator Reid for pastors to sign, a one page information
summary on cloning and contact information for Nevada’s
United States Senators. The information page briefly explains
the types of cloning and the types of legislation. Please
see if your church has received this. If not, will you
please forward it. The letter is self-explanatory in what
pastors Jackson and Ireland would like your pastor and
church to do.
Note: non-profits and churches can educate on and advocate
for legislation. They cannot endorse candidates. Phone
calls, letters and email do not have to be long. They
only need to say you oppose cloning and want Senators
Reid and Ensign to support the Brownback-Landrieu cloning
bill (S. 1899-supported by Senator ensign) and to oppose
all others (S. 1758 and S. 1893-supported by Senator Reid).
Here are their letters and their cloning summary. All
three documents can be copied and reformatted to fit on
a single page.
Don Nelson
President, Nevada LIFE
1. Pastoral Colleague Letter To Pastors And Churches
Dear Colleague in Ministry,
This is John Jackson from Carson Valley Christian Center
and Heb Ireland from Sparks Nazarene. We write to you
because pending federal legislation, which would allow
the creation of human embryos by cloning specifically
for research, could pass the United States Senate this
year, with the support of Nevada Senator Harry Reid. The
future of our humanity is at stake. The vote is very close.
The threat cloning poses to our nation and possible cloned
human beings, are not consequences we can be silent about.
We believe all cloning is wrong because human clones
will be human beings fully sharing in our humanity. Each
human being from the moment of his or her creation is
a unique person of infinite value and worth in and of
himself, not because of their imputed genetic traits or
their therapeutic usefulness, but because of their participation
in our humanity. It is wrong to use another as means to
an end, whether that is manufacturing a person to reproduce
favorable genes or to create and kill them for their stem
cells. Cloning diminishes human dignity and freedom. It
cheapens and commodifies human life. These things are
absolutely wrong and demand our input as salt and light
to a nation and state teetering on the precipice of disaster.
We hope that our information and input to both the Senator
and the public, as well as our opposition to this kind
of legislation could change his position on this important
issue and help create a total human cloning ban in the
United States. We ask you to join us in persuading Senator
Reid to support a total human cloning ban and oppose any
legislation that does not ban all human cloning.
Please join our efforts by :
1. Reading and signing our pastoral letter to Senator
Reid. Please send us a copy by mail, fax with your signature,
or an email your approval and willingness to be included.
We will send this letter to the Senator. Time is of the
essence. A vote is scheduled for late April.
2. Please make information about cloning available and
present in your church and direct people to it. Urge them
to vote contact Senators Reid and Ensign and tell them
that you support a total cloning ban. Ask them to support
Senate Bill 1899 and to oppose Senate Bills 1893 and S
1758. A partial ban is no ban at all. A list of contact
information is attached below.
Attached also below is a brief summary on the issue of
human cloning. More resources are available at www.nevadalife.org/cloning_information.htm.
Please add your voice to ours. God has given us clear
moral voices for a time such as this. Please let it be
heard.
Yours in Christ,
John Jackson Carson Valley Christian Center
Herb Ireland Sparks Nazarene Church
2. Pastoral Letter To Senator Reid
Dear Senator Reid,
The issue of public cloning is so important that we are
compelled to make our views known to you personally, to
our churches and as widely as possible to the Nevada public.
With human dignity, freedom and the sanctity of human
life as our highest values, we believe that a complete
ban on human cloning is necessary to protect these values
essential to civilization.
First, it is important to define what human cloning is.
"It is the creation of a new organism that is genetically
identical to a previously existing organism. In human
cloning, a technique known as somatic cell nuclear transfer
is used to create a human embryo, a new living organism
of the human species." This is a fact of science.
The only bill that uses this definition and provides a
true ban on human cloning is S. 1899, the Brownback/Landrieu
bill. The definitions of cloning in S. 1893, and in S.
1758 are inadequate because they merely define cloning
as the transfer and implantation of the products of nuclear
transfer (an embryo), not the creation of those so-called
products. These bills then do not ban cloning. They only
ban a technique called embryo transfer if the embryo was
created by human cloning.
These definitions effectively hide and demean the nature
of the newly cloned embryo, a distinct human who fully
shares in our humanity. Human dignity and security are
undermined when ever any member of our human family is
described in less than fully human terms.
Second, the purposes of S. 1758 and S 1893 are inadequate
to justify cloning. Human dignity and the sanctity of
human life are diminished by cloning to provide a supply
of embryos for research. This cheapens, comodifies and
merchandizes human life. It creates human life and human
beings only to destroy them. Progress which is ethical,
must not be at the expense of others and human dignity.
Even good medical results do not justify unethical means.
Progress in stem cell research and other medical advances
do not depend on the pursuit of human cloning. Cloning
embryos for stem cell experimentation is increasingly
recognized as a wasteful, unreliable and an unnecessary
path to medical research. The most beneficial stem cell
research today uses stem cells from adult tissue, umbilical
cords and other sources that involve no harm to human
life. New cures for disease can be pursued without creating
human lives in the laboratory solely to destroy them.
Cloning for research will certainly increase implantations
of cloned human embryos into uteruses. The process of
transferring a human embryo to a uterus is very easy and
this research would make it much more likely that this
will occur.
Third, since S. 1893 and S. 1758 only ban embryo transfer
and the birth of cloned humans, these will effectively
create a whole class of humans whose existences are illegal
and whose destruction is required.
We respectfully ask you to support the Brownback/Landrieu
bill and oppose S. 1893 and S. 1758. This is the only
bill which will truly ban human cloning and prevent the
degradation of human life that cloning presents to our
civilization.
Sincerely yours,
Dr. John Jackson Carson Valley Christian Center
Rev. Herb Ireland Sparks Nazarene Church
3. Basic Cloning Information To Be Distributed.
"Cloning is the creation of a new organism that
is genetically identical to a previously existing organism.
In human cloning, a technique known as somatic cell nuclear
transfer is used to create a human embryo, a new living
organism of the human species." The United States
Senate is scheduled to vote on cloning legislation in
late April. The following is brief information on cloning.
For more on cloning, go to Nevada LIFE’s cloning
information page (www.nevadalife.org) for articles and
links to the leading information sites on the internet.
1. There are two so-called types of cloning.
Advocates of cloning have invented two terms, reproductive
and therapeutic cloning.
- Reproductive cloning is cloning that would
result in the birth of a cloned human being.
- Therapeutic cloning is the creation of cloned
human embryos for the purpose of creating a supply of
stem cells for research.
2. There are two types of cloning bans.
Reproductive cloning and therapeutic cloning are widely
rejected by Americans. But many Senators, perhaps a narrow
majority, favor therapeutic cloning. There are two types
of cloning bans. One would ban all human cloning for any
purpose. A second would ban only the birth of a human
clone. This type of ban would allow for the intentional
creation of human embryos only to have them destroyed
for their stem cells to benefit the cloned human.
3. Three pieces of legislation.
In the summer of 2001 the United States House of Representatives
passed H.R. 2505 by over 100 votes. H.R. 2505 would ban
all human cloning. The House also defeated a bill that
would have banned only reproductive cloning but not therapeutic
cloning. There are currently three pieces of legislation
in the United States Senate on human cloning.
- S. 1899. A total human cloning ban, HR 2505, the Weldon-Stupak
bill easily passed the congress last summer. Its Senate
companion Senate Bill 1899 (S 1899) supported by Senator
John Ensign, would likewise create a total ban on human
cloning. The president has said he will sign S. 1899.
- S. 1893 and S. 1758. Two others bills, S. 1893, supported
by Senator Harry Reid, and S. 1758, would ban the birth
and implantation of cloned human embryos into a womb,
but would not ban the creation of these tiny humans
by cloning for research. These bills define human cloning
as "asexual human reproduction by implanting or
attempting to implant the product of nuclear transplantation
into a woman's uterus" (1893 adds "or a substitute
for a woman's uterus.") Nuclear transplantation
is a technical term for what we call cloning or the
cloning process. This involves transferring the nuclear
–for nucleus-contents of the donor’s cell
tissue into an evacuated egg or ovum and then stimulating
that new cell with an electrical charge creating a new
embryo. This definition defines cloning as the implantation
of the newly created human embryo in a womb or substitute
womb, not the act of creation of a new embryo. This
is how advocates of this legislation can say they are
against human cloning. They don’t mean the same
thing.
It is imperative that we make our voices heard on this
important issue to our Senators and ask others to do likewise.
4. Contact Your Nevada United States Senators
Senator Harry Reid
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Senator John Ensign
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Washington
528 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone 202-224-3542
Fax 202-224-7327 |
Washington
364 Russell Senate Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-6244
Fax: (202) 228-2193
TDD: (202) 224-7638
|
Las Vegas
Lloyd D. George Building
333 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Suite 8016
Las Vegas, NV 89101
Phone 702-388-5020
Fax 702-388-5030 |
Las Vegas
Lloyd George Federal Building
333 S. Las Vegas Blvd., Ste. 8203
Las Vegas, NV 89101
Phone: (702) 388-6605
Fax: (702) 388-6501 |
Reno
Bruce R. Thompson Federal Building
400 South Virginia Street, Suite 902
Reno, NV 89501
Phone 775-686-5750
Fax 775-686-5757 |
Reno
Bruce Thompson Federal Building
400 S. Virginia St., Ste. 738
Reno, NV 89501
Phone: (775) 686-5770
Fax: (775) 686-5729
|
Carson City
600 East Williams Street, #302
Carson City, NV 89701
Phone 775-882-7343
Fax 775-883-1980 |
Carson City
600 E. Williams St., Ste. 304
Carson City, NV 89701
Phone: (775) 885-9111
Fax: 775) 883-5590 |
| Email Address: http://reid.senate.gov/email_form.cfm |
Email Address:
http://ensign.senate.gov/contactjohn_email.html |
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