To faithfully engage with the ethical issues of our age, the church must recover a moral theology that weds Biblical fidelity to public clarity. This begins with remembering the law’s restraining power so that believers may stand against evil not only in their hearts, but in their neighborhoods, country, and world.

A young couple sits in front of a computer screen, scrolling through their options.

“This one looks good,” she says. “Haven’t you always liked the color blue?”

“Yes,” he replies. “But they say that one has a chance of expensive problems down the road.”

They are not shopping for a sofa or a car. They are logged on to an embryo screening service, choosing between potential children. Attributes such as disease risk and projected IQ are shown as if they were product descriptions in a catalog. One embryo has a 13% higher chance of blue eyes. Another carries a marker for dyslexia. A third is flagged as “optimal.” With just a few clicks, their ideal child is chosen from among less desirable options.

This is not science fiction. Biotechnology companies now offer parents genomic screening tools to select one life and discard others based on “desirability.” This is nothing less than eugenics, cloaked in the slick language of a Silicon Valley startup.

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