Gallup Poll: Sixty Percent of Americans Say Embryonic Stem Cell Research Morally Acceptable

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Why is stem cell research in the first place so called immoral or against god, my dad just saved a little boy because of stem cell research and his bone marrow donation, so to all the religous types who say stem cell is against gods work, then your saying that god wanted a little boy die for reasons that could of been preventable

Colin Davies of MN 11:33PM July 07, 2011

Nice post, thanks for writing!

seolace of AL 2:19AM May 06, 2010

I am havinv a difficult time reading www.usnews.com in Opera 5.4, just thouht I would let you knoow?

seo lace of AL 1:15AM May 02, 2010

The people against stem cells who use the excuse it's against their religion are hypocrites. A 2000-20001 survey showed that out of the ten thousand women , seventy eight ppercent were religous.Seriously were do they get off saying it's wrong?

laurel look of VA 11:51AM October 03, 2009

Hmmmm. Very interesting,I thought my previous comments would have caused an uproar in the christian pharasees in this room, condeming me to that proverbial lake of fire, they so strongly believe in! After all to disagree with them is cause for banishment and to be shunned!

lee stute of OH 2:16PM March 26, 2009

Why is it that those who Claim to be Moral are usally FOR capital punishment, WAR, etc. These contradictory cretins seem to think there views are based on GODS so called principles. And everytime these conservative christians are losing an argument, they wave there bibles in your face, and trot out God as if that will stop all discussion. No my fundamentalist naybobs, for when you try to use that dodge it only shows that your point is weak and without merit!!!

lee stute of OH 4:21PM March 25, 2009

After reading many of the posts concerning Stem Cell research and those who for there own selfish reasons,do not like it, it is obvious that the "Primordial Ooz" is still pumping out citizens of this backwards society!!!!!

lee stute of OH 4:09PM March 25, 2009

Jim Kuebler: "In the 1950's, a majority of American's told pollsters that school racial segregation was acceptable. Did they 'win the moral argument?' For a period of time they won the popular opinion, but never did they win the 'moral argument.'"

Jim, no matter what side of the argument you're on, you just knocked it out of the park. It's true: people are constantly focused on a number that MSNBC puts out to see which side is "right."

Related to your amazing post, I oppose ESCR but I'm okay with gay marriage. (Yeah, it's lonely.) But I've noticed that when the LEFT loses in a poll or an election (such as a ballot initiative), it fights it tooth and nail, but when the left WINS, suddenly all we hear is "the people have spoken. You lost. Go away."

Brian Gillin of PA 9:01PM March 11, 2009

You assert that polls show that Americans strongly support embryonic stem cell research. Polling questions leading to that conclusion often insufficiently explain the issue. In 2008, The Polling Company, Inc. released results of a far more comprehensive study on Americans’ knowledge and opinions:

http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/public-opinion-and-the-embryo-debates

Amazingly, 77% of respondents did not know that adult stem cells are the only ones that have been used to treat human patients. Furthermore, there was a strong correlation between respondents who asserted that they understand the ESCR issue and those who erroneously believed that embryonic cells have treated patients.

Support for embryonic research fluctuated sharply, from question to question, depending on how questions were phrased. When emphasis was placed on curing disease, support for ESCR surpassed 50%, but opposition to destroying embryos won out, 62-33, when pollsters asked if embryos should be protected from destruction. This indicates that, for all that ESCR has been in the news, Americans still aren’t sure what they know about it, much less how they feel about it.

To accuse opponents of destroying embryos of religious ideology is to concoct a straw-man argument. Numerous (completely secular) biology and human-development textbooks correctly cite fertilization as the beginning of a new human being’s life, and so those who object to ESCR, including President Bush, have a position rooted in science, not ideology.

Brian Gillin of PA 8:41PM March 11, 2009

I fully understand peoples views but I believe it is a choice. I have went over seas and did the adult stem cells so i could potentially beable to walk. It helped a little but i am still in a wheelchair. If sometime down the road we can use embryonic stem cells safely then yes i would take that option so i could walk again.

shannon of MN 7:41PM March 10, 2009

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God & Country

Dan Gilgoff covers religion for U.S. News & World Report. He is the author of The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America are Winning the Culture War, and is a former politics editor at beliefnet. E-mail Dan at godandcountry@usnews.com.

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