Research ethics on life and religious education of unification church

ABSTRACT

To examine bioethics of the Unification Church, the perspectives on life have been evaluated in terms of the life of the living and spirit mind, creation of life and love, as well as relationship between life and spirit mind. The unique characteristic of the Unification life view is that the union of sperms and eggs begin the bodily life made of physical body and the physical mind. It also highlights that the life of spirit mind begins after the baby is born to take the first breath. Humans live three stages of life, so prenatal education in the womb and earthly life in the physical body are important. However, True Love, more important than life itself, is based on the ethics of family four position foundation. Research ethics on life sciences should be based on free actions led by free will, but its responsibilities and results should be derived within the boundaries of the Divine Principle. While it accepts artificial insemination that helps create family four position foundation, surrogacy, sperm and egg donations, artificial abortion and infanticide are opposed. Passive euthanasia, brain death and organ donation are also accepted. Universally, our bioethics propose respect for life based on the golden rule. To direct religious teachings in the right manner, the tentatively-titled “Cross-religious Bioethics Education Research Committee” should be established to define the boundaries of bioethics and teach, persuade and stand up for such beliefs together across all religions.