sdyer@bbncca.ARPA (Steve Dyer) (04/30/84)
Mr. Marchionni is correct about official Catholic teaching. I should
have classified what I had said as intellectual fodder for those who
do not necessarily accept the Church's teaching. That is, it isn't
going to make a big difference to someone who doesn't believe in a soul
to state that the soul and body are united at conception, and that this is
what makes the embryo human.
However, one can argue the point of taking a conservative definitional
approach of when human life begins to someone regardless of their religion.
Catholic ethicists have used this argument before, which elides many of the
details of the Church's teaching, but whose end conclusion remains the same.
--
/Steve Dyer
{decvax,linus,ima}!bbncca!sdyer
sdyer@bbncca.ARPA