Clerics Denounce Cloned Baby Claim

The Vatican joined leading Muslim clerics and Jewish rabbis Saturday in denouncing as immoral, brutal and unnatural the claim that the first cloned baby had been born. Political leaders, meanwhile, stepped up calls for a global ban on human cloning.

The reaction came a day after a cloning company whose leader believes that extraterrestrials are responsible for life on Earth announced that a baby girl, “Eve,” had been born as a clone of her American mother.

There has been no scientific confirmation, however, and the announcement has been met with doubt by the scientific community and revulsion by ethicists, who say cloning humans would compromise freedom and individuality.

A Vatican statement Saturday noted that the announcement came with no scientific proof and that it “has already given rise to the skepticism and moral condemnation of a great part of the international scientific community.”

But “the announcement in itself is an expression of a brutal mentality, devoid of any ethical and human consideration,” the statement said.

Muslim clerics said that cloning humans disrupted natural law and would create a “chaotic” future for humanity.

“Science must be regulated by firm laws to preserve humanity and its dignity,” said Ali Abu Hassan, a cleric from Egypt’s Al Azhar University, the top religious institution in the Sunni Muslim world.

Separately, a senior Saudi cleric, Ayed bin Ahmad Qurani, said human cloning is wrong “because it will cause an imbalance in the human nature God has created,” and it would lead to the spread of unknown diseases, he said. In addition, it could replace marriage for the sake of reproduction through one gender without the need for the other, which is “sinful, sinful, sinful,” he said.

In Jerusalem, Israel’s chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau said that in principle, Judaism favors technological developments and medical progress that can help save a life or solve infertility problems, but rejects the artificial creation of life.

“The moment medical science tries to take upon itself duties and areas which are not its responsibility such as shortening life, cloning or creating life in an unnatural way, we must set down borders in order not to harm the basic belief that there is a creator of the universe in whose hands life and death are placed,” a statement from Lau’s office said.

Clonaid, the company that made the announcement, was founded by the Raelian sect, which has a “scientific creation” theology. Sect leader Rael claims life on Earth was created by extraterrestrials through genetic engineering.