Director : Dr Donald Bruce
The SRT Report to the General Assembly 1997
from the Society, Religion and Technology Project, Board of National Mission
Accepted by the General Assembly on 22 May 1997, together with the following motion :
That the General Assembly endorse the report of the Society, Religion and Technology and its ongoing work of mission to the world of science and technology, and its appendix on the question of patenting living organisms.
CONTENTS
Without question, one of the greatest forces of change in our
culture is science and technology. It has changed our lives in
countless down to earth ways, but more subtly, it changes our
perception of living. Compared with a century ago, we have an
entirely different expectation of life through what technology
has brought us. We take for granted to be able to eat plenty,
stay warm, and enjoy good health and long lives. Technology has
profoundly changed our use of time, the rhythms that drive both
individuals and organisations, what leisure and creativity mean,
our ideas of mobility and where we can get to, how we
communicate and how rapidly, and what we expect to know about
the world and its events. It is bringing new challenges almost
every month to the "givens" about human life, how we regard and
use animals and plants - indeed what the very forces of nature
are for, and even whether we need God any more.
Any concept of national mission to Scotland needs must engage
with the world of science and technology, if it is to be
effective in relating the gospel to the contemporary culture.
In setting up the Society, Religion and Technology Project in
1970, the Church of Scotland recognising this need and also that
it is something that extends far beyond parish level. In 1996,
the SRT Project produced a paper setting out its vision of its
mission to this culture, describing the essential features of a
ground-breaking, long-term, prophetic work, which aims to
"influence the influencers" in high places, how it seeks to
interpret the myths and besetting sins of the world of science
and technology, and find the areas of common ground where
bridges can be built for the gospel. SRT gives a Christian view
in a world of conflicting vested interests, which is searching
for values to interpret the ever-growing challenges of science.
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Genetically modified food, the cloning of sheep and the prospect
of transplanting pig's hearts into humans have all made the
headlines in the past year. Each of them is well covered, along
with many others, in the wide ranging report of SRT's Genetic
Engineering working group, whose three ethical year study is now
almost complete. Final editing is underway prior to publication
as a book in the secular field, and a conference is being
planned around the book. [Update this wording in February if we
have a definite publishing contract by then]
As this work finishes, a new interdisciplinary study on Risk is
now being set up, drawing on the genetics work and SRT's own "in
house" expertise in the area of risk. In a year that has seen
the BSE crisis and e-coli outbreak, SRT is considering what
factors underlie the muddled and disturbing way we cope with the
idea of hazards and uncertainty from new technology, and asks
what is our theology of risk, and what are its ethical
principles? As a first step, the SRT Director gave a paper on
genetic risk regulation at a European conference on risk in
June, which was well received for addressing important ethical
issues neglected elsewhere in the conference.
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SRT is finding opportunities to influence influencial people,
especially in Europe. As part of the EECCS working group on
economics and the environment, the SRT Director met with the
chairman of the European Parliament environment committee in
October to discuss group's report on sustainable development.
He also wrote a submission to the EC and European Parliament,
critical of a draft EC directive on patenting living organisms,
currently under debate among MEP's. In a highly politicised
area of debate, it has come as an independent voice from the
churches, drawing strong reactions. A biotechnology industry
representative came to SRT to discuss at length, fearful that
the submission will turn uncommitted MEP's against the
Directive, while "green" groups claim it supports their views.
A fruitful dialogue has begun with the EC and a meeting with
MEPs is planned in March 1997. The submission is summarised in
the Appendix to this report.
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The Project's role has always had a prophetic element, looking
behind current issues with insight and Christian challenge. SRT
Director Dr Bruce organised a petiton of about 6000 signatures
from Scottish churches, seeking more action from the UK
Government on climate change. This was part of a wider exercise
by the World Council of Churches, and in November, Dr Bruce
represented the UK churches at a WCC consultation on climate
change in the Netherlands, with delegates from 22 countries and
6 continents, and presented a paper on sustainable technology.
He is helping to write the far-reaching and radical consultation
report, which will call for changes in our basic concepts of
sustainability, prosperity, development and technology, and in
our lifestyle commitments. The trend of globalised everything
needs adjusting to a more community based scale. Technological
efficiency has to be seen in a more ecological light, and not
only towards production goals. Our ideas of mobility and
accessing of food need trimming back to a more regional basis,
if we are to halt the inexorable warming of the earth, and the
suffering it is beginning to bring. Dr Bruce also witnessed
first hand other suffering from the careless application of
technology in a visit to Chernobyl in April 1996. He has been
asked by the Edinburgh International Science Festival to give a
lecture on the vivid impressions he came away with.
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The Science Festival is perhaps the best example of SRT's bridge
building effort. A full 1997 SRT programme includes science and
faith lectures on the implications if there really is life on
Mars, and on what basis we know anything, scientific or
Christian. As part of its apologetics role, SRT itself gives
many God and science talks to Christian and secular audiences,
including a schools series and public lectures in Buchan in
February 1997. Many opportunities for outreach also exist in
the ethics field. The SRT Director was asked to be on a panel
of experts answering questions on biotechnology at the Royal
Agricultural show at Stoneleigh in July 1996, and possibilities
are opening up at the Royal Highland Show. More behind the
scenes, but just as important, the Project now has an ongoing
work of ethical consultancy and advice with the Scottish
Agricultural College. On the Internet, SRT is increasingly
receiving good feedback from its extensive set of World Wide Web
pages with articles on genetics, the environment, God and
science, and the Internet itself, and has found new contacts and
partners in its work.
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The Web page and giving talks to churches are part of the SRT
Project's important role in interpreting the issues of our times
to the church. The quarterly SRT Bulletin to all ministers is
providing material for several church magazines. "John Knox's
Guide to the Internet" and a possible "popular" version of its
genetics report are a part of this process. At the Graz
European Ecumenical Assembly in June 1997, SRT is planning to
play a joint role with the environmental advisors of other
European national churches, in stimulating us to take seriously
our duty of care for God's creation. In an exciting
development, SRT has been asked to run a conference in Edinburgh
on 27 September 1997, funded by John Templeton Foundation, on
psychology and Christianity, with the dual aim of stimulating
the teaching of science, faith and ethics in Scottish
universities, higher education and especially in theological
training.
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SRT's mission potential is huge but the workers are few - one
and a half, to be precise! The current SRT Director Dr Donald
Bruce has been invited to continue in post for a further 5
years, but SRT looks to go further. To take advantage of the
increasing opportunities for a Christian view in the world of
technology, an SRT Trust is being set up seeking to attract
substantial external funding to expand SRT's work beyond the
core funding provided by National Mission. It is hoped this may
provide extra research staff to help on specific projects, while
retaining its status as a Christian voice independent of
industry, green or other vested interests, yet in dialogue and
outreach to them all.
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(* deliverance is the jargon word for a formal motion) -
That the General Assembly endorse the report of the Society, Religion and Technology and its ongoing work of mission to the world of science and technology, and its appendix on the question of patenting living organisms.
That the General Assembly urge the European Commission and European Parliament to amend the draft Directive on the Legal Protection of Biotechnological Inventions, to ensure that living organisms and genetic material of human origin are in themselves unpatentable, as parts of God's creation, and to set up, in parallel with the patenting process, an appropriate European system by which the ethical acceptability of biotechnological inventions can be decided, with statutory rights for the public to present their views.
See below for the special report and deliverances on Cloning.
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This page has been produced by the Society Religion and Technology Project of the Church of Scotland. For more about our work on other issues, see our Other SRT Project pages, our SRT Publications List, or our On-line SRT Newsletter.
We'd also welcome any comments you may have. We don't claim to have said the last word!
If you want to send us a comment or obtain further information or receive our latest Newsletter,
email us at :
mailto:srtp@srtp.org.uk
or send an ordinary letter or fax to :
Dr.Donald M.Bruce,
Society, Religion and Technology Project,
, 121 George Street, Edinburgh, EH2 4YN, Scotland.
tel. +44 (0)131-240 2250, fax +44 (0)131-240 2239,
email address : srtp@srtp.org.uk
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