GALILEO AND THE EMBRYOS - RELIGION AND SCIENCE IN PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE OVER RESEARCH ON HUMAN EMBRYOS

Confrontation between science and religion was a significant feature o f the lengthy public appraisal of research on human embryos in Britain during the 1980s. The series of formal debates over embryo research i n the House of Lords is chosen as a particularly appropriate setting t o study this confrontation. It is shown that religious opposition to e mbryo research was repeatedly attacked in these debates by means of a stereotyped contrast between religious and scientific styles of though t. Leading figures in the movement for embryo research attempted to di scredit their opponents by claiming that, whereas their own case was b uilt upon reasoned assessment of the facts, the other side relied on r eligious dogma, clerical authority and faith. It is shown that, althou gh there were genuine differences between those critical of embryo res earch on religious grounds and those supporting such research on groun ds furnished by scientists, this account of the differences is inaccur ate: dogma, reliance on authority and faith were as characteristic of the discourse associated with science as they were of that associated with religion. it is argued that these features were not generated by the presence of religious or scientific beliefs as such, but by the st ruggle between advocates of science and religion for intellectual and moral dominance.