|
August 1, 2005
On the one hand,
mankind has been engaged in an eternal quest for the explanation of
human existence…where did we come from? And this debate eventually
gets reduced to the basic test…looking for signs of life in the
primordial soup.
Where did the
first living cell come from, the building block of life? In the
1950s, a doctoral student at the University of Chicago was busy
researching early earth. Bringing together the work of several
scientists, Stanley Miller created a chamber with only hydrogen,
water, methane, and ammonia to simulate the possible atmosphere of the
first earth.
To speed up
"geologic time," Miller boiled the water. Then, instead of exposing
the mix to ultraviolet light, he used an electric discharge to
simulate lightning. After just a week, Miller had a residue of
compounds. He analyzed them and the results were electrifying: Organic
compounds had been formed, most notably some of the "building blocks
of life," amino acids.
Miller’s
experiment and his small collection of amino acids were instantly
heralded as the first evolutionary sign of life. At the same time,
other scientists were beginning to break into the DNA code to unravel
the chemical design of life.
Their claims of
support for evolution have not gone unchallenged. One of the most
striking discussions on the possible origins of life is Michael Behe’s
book, Darwin’s Black Box. A biochemist at
Lehigh
University,
Behe explains complex chemical concepts in plain English, disputing
the probability of evolution by chance.
Miller and Behe
are two of the many experts at the center of raging debates about
human life. Amazon posts 477 reviews from Behe’s readers alone.
On the one hand, peering millions of years into the past, we are
feverishly seeking the first sign of life.
On the other
hand, with evidence in front of us in the here and now of the most
perfectly designed living beings, we are engaged in another feverish
battle to ignore signs of life.
Delivering the
decision of the Supreme Court in 1973, Justice Blackmun recorded the
history of “attitudinal change” regarding the “potentiality of human
life.” For the Pythagoreans, “the embryo was animate from the moment
of conception, and abortion meant destruction of a living being.” In
other words, they saw signs of life. And for Blackmun, this was
evidence of their backward thinking and inflexible dogma.
As a modern
Intellectual, Justice Blackmun wrestled with “the raw edges of human
existence,” looking for signs of life. But this was hard for him
because of the distraction of pollution. Pollution? Yes,
pollution...it's right there in Blackmun's decision. The Supreme
Court can’t find signs of life because of pollution, even as Stanley
Miller claimed signs of life in theoretical primordial soup?
For Justice
Blackmun, the science of life was not a concrete matter based on
fact. It was a problem with “racial overtones,” complicated, fraught
with emotion and subject to “attitudinal change.” For Stanley Miller,
either it was an amino acid, or it wasn’t. Attitude and emotion had
nothing to do with signs of life.
In 1973,
Blackmun struggled to find even “the potentiality of human life.” In
2000, Justice Breyer evaluated a pile of evidence demonstrating more
than life’s “potentiality” and declared for the court… "We don’t
care.”
Reading
through the Court Decision of Stenberg v. Carhart, a truly
civilized human must cringe at the signs of life described. Clinical
details of the doctor’s procedure describe instrumental
disarticulation or dismemberment of the fetus or the collapse of fetal
parts to facilitate evacuation from the uterus. The Court writes
of problems in the dismemberment of life that can result in a 'free
floating' fetal head that can be difficult for a physician to grasp
and remove.
On the one hand,
thousands of the brightest minds in science are intent on defending
the evidence of life implied in a simple amino acid. On the other
hand, hundreds of the most educated minds in
America
are intent on denying absolute signs of life inside the womb.
Has the best of
human intellect and the purest of the human spirit reduced us to this
level? Pushing aside the facts, we find signs of life when we want
to?
Supreme Court Decision: Stenberg v.
Carhart
Decision Issued June 28, 2000
http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/supreme.html
_____________________ |
