Advancements in medical genetics challenge the long-standing relationship between science and religion. Both genetics and religion can affect notions of family and parenthood, appreciation of diversity and equality, conceptualization of health and disease, and personhood. As noted by Larry R. Churchill: “To study the interface of religion and spirituality and genetics is to study the interaction of two powerful interpretive schemes for self-understanding.”
The implications of this convergence on a personal and public level are largely unknown. A Pubmed search of “genetics and religion” and “genetics” reveals that approximately 0.01% of publications on genetics address religion. This is a deficiency in that a majority of U.S. citizens report an affiliation with a faith tradition and the use of genetic technology can raise morally licit questions, many with an origin in religious doctrine.
Read the full, original story here: Religion and Genetics: An inextricable link
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