Iowa is Becoming Ethical

"The service of humanity leads us to insist, in season and out of season, that those using the latest advances of science, especially in the field of biotechnology, must never disregard fundamental ethical requirements by invoking a questionable solidarity which eventually leads to discriminating between one life and another and ignoring the dignity which belongs to every human being." - Pope John Paul II
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I just found out about the John Paul II Stem Cell Research Institute in Iowa City, Iowa:                                                        http://www.jp2sri.org/

"The JP2SRI's mission focuses on developing therapies and diagnostic tools for treating diseases that may benefit from adult and umbilical cord-derived stem cells. The Institute mission is to educate other scientists and the next generation of scientists in pro-life bioethics."

"The Institute strictly focuses on adult and cord blood stem cell research and education. The Institute's goal is to focus on reducing the barriers of translate basic research into clinical research."

"The Institute represents an opportunity for pro-life individuals to support ethical-derived stem cell research consistent with pro-life values. JP2SRI DOES NOT conduct human embryonic stem cell research and does not perform therapeutic cloning or somatic cell nuclear transfer"
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It is both exciting, and encouraging, to see the continuous expansion of science taking ethics into consideration.  It is especially neat to see this occuring in the midwest!  It is great to look at this with regards to the Pope Paul VI Institute in Iowa's neighboring (yet less worthy...) state of Nebraska.

An explanation

I spent the summer nannying a thirteen year old girl and her siblings. This young girl is wonderful and I was blessed to spend a summer with her and her family. Nevertheless, she has grown up in a culture of Hannah Montana, texting and middle school drama which has formed her to be a perfect example of the stereotypical personality of her generation. For example, when this group of human beings communicate, there is one phrase that is versatile for every possible situation they encounter; this phrase is “Oh my God.”

People of all ages use this phrase, but it was in my steady interaction with this particular age group that the phrase became increasingly disturbing to me. In every conversation with this girl, I had the guarantee of hearing the phrase, “Oh my God,” at least one time. It was not as if I had never been surrounded by this habit or it had never troubled me in the past, but the regularity of its occurrence confirmed my assumption that there is an extreme ignorance of the expression’s consequence and few people feel guilt after saying it.

A Bible study leader once painted the following picture. Throughout the day the phrase “Oh my God” makes its way up to heaven and falls upon the ears of God. Should we not counter this great injustice with the words of praise and thanksgiving for God so that He can also listen to words of love? When we overhear this expression of disrespect toward God we should challenge ourselves to focus on God and add a phrase of worship, knowing that ours will reach His ears and be pleasing to Him. This is why I say, “Blessed be God!” (…and have forced you to say it every time you arrive at this blog).