Controversial Topic Discussion

As far as I understand it scientists are planning to use the reprogrammed skin cells to create the stem cells that are desperately needed for research into cancers and diseases such as Alzheimer's, thus neatly sidestepping the thorny issue of obtaining stem cells from embryos.

All this sounds to me like a very good idea if they can iron out some of the kinks, such as using the cancer gene as a retrovirus - didn't really work too well for the mice. Not sure how enthusiastic people would be if they were to discover they had swapped Alzheimer's for cancer.

However, beyond the two main categories of organised crime and the disgustingly rich, I cannot see a mainstream need for fully cloning a person. I suppose it will happen just because scientists have (or nearly have) the ability to do so, but to do so then raises a lot of moral and ethical questions that our laws and society in general aren't really equipped to deal with, but interestingly ones that science fiction have been looking at for years.

The main issue I have with cloning is does it just create a physical clone of the original at the same age that is a blank slate or would the clone have all the same memories and knowledge as the original? If it is just a blank slate then outside of the medical profession, it's usefulness is considerably limited - not a bad thing until our society's laws encompass the creation of clones.

I am intrigued to know if these clones would also be considered to have a soul? They weren't created by God per se, is it enough that they are cloned from a human who is supposed to have a soul that they also have a soul? Or would the religions of the world decry them for being created for not being born as God intended, and if that is the case do they feel the same about all the test tube babies who have been "born" in a way other than God intended?

Please note I'm not trying to attack anyone's religion. I'm not religious myself, but I know that when it comes to God and religion everyone has they're own path to follow and that's cool. I'm curious as to what deeply religious people (of all religions) feel about this.

Cheers
Elomi