Chuck Colson keeps his eye on the ever-present eugenics temptation.
". . . what’s being promised is a world where those who are considered “unfit” never are born and, thus, never are a burden on the rest of us. Whether we admit or not, we still seek the improvement of the “race” by identifying those who carry “undesirable” traits and preventing their births.
What we are doing to babies with Down syndrome, who have been “targeted for elimination” by doctors, governments, and insurance companies, is only the beginning. The more we learn about the genetic basis of “undesirable” traits, the longer the list of those we “target.”
The only thing standing in the way of this are the same people who stood in the way of the old eugenics: Christians. As Bruinius [author of Better for All the World] tells us, it was Christians, people like Billy Sunday and William Jennings Bryan, who led the opposition to eugenics in the United States. And in Britain, it was G. K. Chesterton, the great writer.
If the “new eugenics” is to be stopped, it’s because today’s believers in “divine law” and the “sanctity of human life” are prepared to join this distinguished company.
An excerpt from the book mentioned above, Better for All the World: The Secret History of Forced Sterilization and America's Quest for Racial Purity can be found here. Chuck Colson's article links to a good Bible study, (actually a sample sermon on biotechnology) titled "Image is Everything." It explores the significance and the ramifications of Genesis 1:26-31 and Luke 1:26-38 and is very excellent.