Morality, religion and science are intricately related often and as Christians, we have religious convictions based on the Bible to govern our lives and direct our profession. The world of science and medicine has raised some concerns for the Christian community not too long ago.

On 22 February 1997, Dr Ian Wilmut, a Scottish scientist from Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, shocked the world when he announced that he had successfully cloned a sheep by the name of Dolly from the mammary cells of an adult sheep. Cloning has been done before on frogs, mice and cows. Although there are difficulties that are encountered, scientists have bypassed a germ cell (sperm and ova) and produce a living creature from a differentiated cell from another body.

Cloning is done by splitting embryos of an adult and making a full replica of it. In 1998, Dr Richard Seed, an American scientist, publicly announced his plan to go ahead with human cloning (although it is still in the infant stages of research). The American government had frozen public funds for research into this and the world responded with disapproval or restrictions generally. But some scientists are going ahead with this quest. Should Christians support this cause?

From a moral and theological perspective, cloning is unacceptable because to replicate any human technologically is against the Creator God and the basic dignity of the uniqueness of each human being in God’s sight. The Psalmist said we are fearfully and wonderfully made (Ps 139:13), and even identical twins are unique as individuals. It is unnatural to re-create life and God has not given us this privilege. Some have said that we can clone humans to weed out genetic defects or select for desirable traits (scientists and doctors tell us that there is a greater probability of genetic defects from cloning itself). If this is right, so is Hitler’s programme of building a superior Aryan race and the decimation of 6 million Jews during WWII.

The quality of life does not depend on physical factors alone. Others have said that cloning is good because it means we can help infertile couples to have children when one of the partners can clone himself or herself. Singles can also have babies without marriage. God’s will is to supersede man’s desire and we must learn to humbly submit to Him. Others have even suggested that cloning provides a way for gay couples to have their own children. Homosexuality is condemned in the Bible in Rom 1:26–28.

There has been the proposal that cloning can help us to reproduce exceptional people like Einstein, Mozart, Carl Lewis, John Calvin, Luther, and so on. But the same argument can also be said that we can reproduce Hitlers, or Idi Admin, or Pol Pot, Tito, or Mussolini as well. Others have said that cloning can help believing or grieving parents of a dying child to replace that child in their lives. But the biblical answer to that is resurrection, not cloning. There are scientists who suggested other uses for cloning besides producing full copies of human being. Cloning may bring benefit to the animal world in giving us, perhaps, a better breed of cows or goats, which can provide better milk or meat for man (which could be plausible and has its merits) but this is not the same when applied to human beings, who are made in the image of God and have eternal souls. Man is not to be treated like animals for we have an immortal soul in this matter and we need to make a distinction here.

God alone is the giver and taker of life, not man (therefore there is no biblical basis to practise euthanasia and abortion). He is the Creator of all things, including man and He has not delegated this to man to manipulate it. The Psalmist speaks of God who created man even in the innermost parts (Ps 139:13–18; cf Jer 1:5). No mortal ought to try to impinge on the boundaries of the Almighty Creator. God alone must be recognised and respected as the sole Maker and Giver of life. He is the Alpha and Omega, the originator of life and the Judge at death. We can plant the seed but only God can make it grow. We must not pretend to play God for this is dangerous and presumptuous.

There is a natural process of reproduction that God in His sovereign wisdom has given to mankind and it is not wise to meddle with it. God has given it to the married couple the joy of conjugal marriage that leads to procreation of children. It is not to be taken out of marriage which is God’s plan for multiplication of life on earth. We must not undermine the sanctity of life and the dignity of man. No two persons are the same and it is God’s holy and perfect will for us this way.

Cloning takes this privilege away and substitutes it with the unnatural means. It destroys marriage, procreation and the beautiful (notwithstanding painful) God-ordained process of delivering a baby by the mother. It violates the biblical fact that God is sovereign in all His plans, including procreation of life and even death. We are made in the image of God (Gen 1:27), not in the image of ourselves. The creature must not seek to be like the Creator. It is not permitted and will have dire consequences. Creation of life is a mystery and it belongs to God alone. Deut 29:29 says, "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law." We must not trespass into God’s domain that is not opened to us.

Uniqueness and personhood is another issue here. In normal human reproduction, we have a new person with unique features made beautifully in the image of God. No two persons have the same fingerprint. What about an exact clone of an existing person? Will they look exactly alike? A child is a gift from God, not a product of modern technology. We do not manufacture babies as we do with computers and other inanimate objects. God alone decide who will come into the world and who will live and how long they will live. Scientist may attempt to clone a body but only God can give a soul to that body.

If we can clone a human being, then there is no need to have marriage and have children through the normal process of procreation. It undermines the need for holy institution of matrimony and a healthy family life with strong relation between husband and wife. It has bypassed the normal reproductive process that comes about through marriage and it militates against what marriage is designed to achieve. God told Adam and Eve, "Be fruitful, and multiply" (Gen 1:28), and not to the scientist, "Clone me another baby." We have disobeyed God and challenged the authority of God and not followed His instructions closely. The aspect of conjugal love and affection between husband and wife will be challenged and slowly undermined by a pragmatic society.

This is a dangerous trend with cloning. It will soon be possible to have children outside a proper marital union, medically speaking. It destroys God’s original blueprint for a covenant family with children born from their own parents through the consummation of a God sanctioned marriage. That precious mother-child emotional relationship from birth will be undermined by cloning and would the scientist who cloned the child be the "creator"?

Human cloning as a means of reproducing mankind goes against biblical design and injunctions. God alone has the sole copyright to create man and the creature must not intrude into this divine prerogative. We cannot duplicate souls. We do well to submit ourselves before the Almighty God and not intrude into God’s sovereignty. He is the Potter, we are the clay. Man is the creature, not the Creator and we must recognise this and not attempt to reverse it. We can enhance the quality of life according to God’s enablement, but NOT to create life against God’s will. All the pragmatic benefits that we have discussed earlier have a religious and moral or even physical (we do not know what the cloned person will be like in his physical condition and life expectancy) consequence, not just a utilitarian one. What is liked may not be what is right.

The sacred things of God belong only to Him.

Dolly (the old "young" sheep died a few years later) and human Folly is what can be described of this latest cloning phenomenon if it is applied to humans. As believers created in the image of God and called unto everlasting life through his Son, we know our place in the order of creation and humble ourselves before the Almighty Jehovah and ought not to meddle with things that do not belong to us and look up only to God our Creator and Redeemer.

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