Theos-Talk Archives (December 2002 Message tt00713)

Here is an except on cloning:

mkr
============================

Just how serious the effort might be is uncertain, and it is complicated by 
the fact that Vorilhon bragged he got millions in media
publicity from his stunt. More importantly he attracted congressional 
attention. Rep. James C. Greenwood (R-Pennsylvania), as
chairman of a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee, invited Raelians to 
testify before his committee last year as he
prepared legislation to ban any cloning that would produce children. 
Vorilhon, who appeared as an expert witness in a white
jumpsuit with his hair tied atop his head in a knot, testified that people 
one day would clone themselves and then download their
personalities into the clones, achieving a kind of eternal life. Greenwood 
later said that Vorilhon's testimony convinced
lawmakers that "even kooks may have the capacity to make human beings" and 
that it was necessary to act against cloning.

Clearly, Vorilhon was used by the anti-cloning forces to emphasize the 
potential dangers of cloning without really giving it a fair
hearing. Vorilhon agreed he was used, but held that the publicity was worth 
it and that his organization was growing. What
bothers his critics the most is that in spite of his publicity stunts, his 
belief in flying saucers, his free love, is that he claims to be a
scientist and that his religion is based upon it. Worst of all, the 
anticloning forces use him as an example of science at work.

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