Digital technologies and converging theologies

Carbon nanotubes

‘Communities can be devastated by the intrusion of genetically modified seeds and bio-piracy’, participants said. They recognized the ‘need for dialogue with scientists’, so as to move ‘beyond a reactive mode’, and called for the ‘restoration of the churches' prophetic voices and public witness in the growing debate regarding the ethical use of genetics and biotechnologies’.

Some 45 participants from all regions of the world praised themselves of the beauty and wonder of creation, even while confronting the stark challenges of new technologies. Only a few kilometers from Soweto and the Apartheid museum, in the opening session they heard the stark reminder, ‘Biotechnology in many of its current applications like the apartheid system before it thrives on and leads to the indignity of persons and communities.’

WACC was represented at the consultation by Dr Pradip Thomas, its former Director of Studies and Publications and currently Assistant Professor at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

The consultation was hosted by the South African Council of Churches (SACC) acknowledging South Africa's role as a science and technology centre on the African continent. The initiative for the consultation grew simultaneously from the Canadian Council of Churches and the National Council of the Churches of Christ USA together with the World Council of Churches and the SACC.

Envisioned as an opportunity for networking among concerned people, members of advocacy groups, theologians and scientists, representatives of churches and ecumenical partners, the consultation boldly faced the complexity of the issues born of scientific advance and commercial interests. The outcome of the consultation was diversity expressed as solidarity.

The prophetic voice of the ecumenical community

Participants agreed that there is a great need for global ecumenical literacy on the many dimensions of the new convergent technologies that have been enabled by the digitalization of information in different spheres of life. A central commitment of the consultation was the restoration of the churches' prophetic voices and public witness in the growing debate regarding the ethical use of genetics and biotechnologies.

It was affirmed that theological reflection needs to be contextual and engaged in the transformation of the situation together with those most directly affected. But how to arrive at common voice of the ecumenical family in inter-contextual encounters describes well the task ahead and requires drawing deeply on different Christian traditions of practical wisdom and wisdom traditions in other faith communities.

The first steps in fulfillment of these commitments are to be taken by sub-groups of the consultation:

• Education: Envisioned here is the development of a compendium of educational resources, which can be circulated to colleagues electronically; the development and maintenance of an electronic conversation on ongoing basis; the development of an ongoing network to be expanded as possible.
• Theological Discourse: The group explored the themes of anthropology, inter-contextual approach to doing theology, ecclesiological implications; exploring issues of unequal power distribution also in the ways they affect the discourse through the sharing of written materials and an ongoing consultative process (South-South, North-North, South-North); encouragement of learned societies to work on issues related to genetics and biotechnology in the widest possible sense including environmental issues. Public theology is a promising new avenue to inform the churches public witness.
• The ethics of embryonic stem cell research: the group pledged to follow developments in genetic research and its human applications, carefully reflecting on their theological implications and effects with each development.
• Genetically modified organisms in agriculture: support the proposal of a commercial moratorium on the export and import of agro-fuels; greater emphasis on the alternative framework of sustainable/life-giving agriculture and the need to modify our energy consumption patterns as the main way to address climate change and the water scarcity crisis through networking among participants and other partners; strict standards for the planting and transborder trade of GMO products; protect the human rights of the farmers that are being affected by monoculture GMO crops and also the economic violence they are subjected to and resulting in migration and hunger.
• Converging technologies: exchange of materials on nano-, bio-, information-, cognitive technologies and synthetic biology and sharing of information with the group as a whole.
• Advocacy, locally and globally: intentional efforts to improve the impact ofmulti-faceted political intervention through greater cross-sectoral and cross-regional sharing of information, models and practices; improving the churches capacity for public witness through co-operation with civil society actors and ethical and theological reflection provided by other groups in the network.

Source: WCC News.