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Abstract
This present study examines the watershed discussion on human genetic engineering of the 1982 United States Presidential Commission and Oversight Hearings. It is an examination of the intersection of genetics, theology and religion in U.S. policy making. It also examines the historical narrative that has been manufactured by scientists and theologians about genetics and the Presidential Commission and Oversight Hearings. Theologically speaking, the future of genetic technologies was articulated in 1982 and, from this dialogue in policy making (whether acknowledged or not) all contemporary discussions on the nature of genetics, religion and theology appear to be derived.
The idea of Playing God is not mere rhetoric to describe this activity. This study found that genetics technologies are not theologically neutral with respect to competing conceptions about the nature of the Good rather, genetic technologies describe a particular theological worldview which was articulated by scholars at the turn of the 21st century, called Process Theology. The idea of playing God is the theology of Co-Creators with God or, as some prefer to call it, created Co-Creators.
It also finds that the widespread belief in the neutrality of this technology is the most salient means toward its success in the transformation of how humans think, move and have their being. It considers how humans make ideas, how humans make ideas socially acceptable and how socially acceptable ideas narrow human thinking and questioning. It challenges several misconceptions about science, theology and religion and asks questions concerning the nature of accountability for political conceptions of justice. Important to this study is Martin Heideggers' questioning of the essence of technology which is the basis of a critical examination of John Rawls' conception of political liberalism.
