Reason for Expanded Experiments on Genes

 

The Diagnosis of the Times column of the Catholic Peace Weekly gives the readers some changes in the Korean Ministry of  Health and Welfare by a professor at the Catholic University Department of Life.

On March 2, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced its ambition to become a global leader by changes in regulations in seven new bio-health industries. The seven items are new medical devices, new essential medicines, digital healthcare, regenerative treatments, advanced pharmaceutical,  genetic testing, brain and mechanical interfaces, devices and infrastructure that connect the brain and computers to enable interaction.

A week later, the Ministry of Health and Welfare stated that it would expand the items of embryonic and fetal genetic testing in seven key areas and push ahead with it scheduled for June this year. However, it is questionable why genetic testing is a new field of bio-health industry. According to the relevant ministries, they are adjusting the scope of genetic testing that is currently prohibited or restricted in order to implement genetic testing that reflects the development of science and technology, but the reason for this is not clear.

 

Currently, there are a total of 137 genetic diseases that can be legally tested on embryos or fetuses (announced by the Ministry of Health and Welfare on March 7, 2022). However, genetic testing on embryos and fetuses is mostly not for treatment. First of all, genetic testing conducted on embryos selects embryos  eugenically, so unselected embryos are destroyed or used in experiments for genetic research. In the case of prenatal diagnosis performed on a fetus, most of them have the purpose of abortion rather than treatment. But now that science and technology have advanced, what does it mean to expand the scope of genetic testing? Are they trying to screen embryos and fetuses with stricter standards?

A couple had a baby after a long wait. The couple, were recommended to take a prenatal diagnostic test at the hospital and found out that their child had a genetic disease, and seriously considered abortion, but eventually gave birth with deep faith. The child was normal. Throughout the pregnancy, the couple reportedly had a hard time. However, if you had an abortion, you would not have known that there was an error in the test. This is because the hospital does not have to take any responsibility  after recommending a prenatal diagnosis and notifying parents that the fetus  has a genetic disease.

In fact, most genetic modifications are very minute, causing no visible modifications to the chromosome structure. In addition, genetic testing alone cannot reveal the presence of a genetic disease. Our body's genes are contained in DNA, but genetic diseases are expressed when the genes are converted into proteins. However, the process of gene expression into protein is very sophisticated and influenced by various factors.

The total length of DNA that each of us has throughout our bodies is about 20 trillion meters. Among them, the portion corresponding to the gene is about 2%, and more than 80% perform a switch function to control gene expression. The fact that more than 80% of these 2% are switches means that our body is very careful about gene expression. And the switch is regulated in response to various environments.
 

In addition, because genes can be expressed by interactions of various genes, different results can be derived from the same genetic information. In other words, genes are expressed as DNA interacts with the environment. It is very dangerous to ignore this fact and think that every thing is determined by genes.

But are the relevant ministries trying to spread the idea that everything is determined by genes by expanding the scope of genetic testing of embryos and fetuses? Do the results minimize and take life lightly and discriminates against human life with genetic information? It seems that the Ministry of Health and Welfare needs deep policy reflection to see if it is preoccupied with the idea that everything scientifically and technologically possible should be applied.

'Hikikomori' Coming out of the Cave

In Biblelife magazine a priest gives readers a glimpse of the life of Hikikomori, the Japanese term used for a reclusive loner—from the verb hiki to withdraw, and komori to be inside. It is not a mental health issue, but a state of unhealthy withdrawal from society. 

The writer begins with the shocking news that Seoul alone had about 130,000 'recluse loners'. A figure he found hard to believe. These are young people who live alone in their rooms. The writer knew of the reality from those who tried to help them but the numbers were beyond imagining. 

He introduces us to Song Min (made up name) who began his life as a loner at 17 and returned to society at 27, after 10 years confined to his room. Not easy to believe. The priest remembers how difficult it was for him during a retreat to remain silent in his room. He believes this is easy to understand. 

Song Min had an internet window to the world from which he was connected. It was during his late twenties he dared to leave his room. The reasons for this, of course, are different for each individual. However, the writer believes it is in many cases serious scars received in life. The degree of sensitivity to outside stimuli differs for each person. Some have no difficulty with what is heard or done but others are unable to deal with the external situation and enter their cave. 

It took Song Min 10 years to leave his cave. Getting into a cave in your teens and coming out of it in your late 20s is something you only hear about from an ascetic who is determined to realize the truth. He was helped by those around him. He joined others who made the same trip from the cave to reenter society again. Together with his mentors and others making the same journey, he began to learn how to maneuver in society with the assistance of his colleagues who were dealing with the same pain. 

The priest hearing Song Min's story impressed him greatly. For 10 years Song Min was estranged from the world. He had to learn how to communicate which was not easy to do. He was unable to communicate with others with words on many occasions. He asked the priest to speak comfortably without harboring negative feelings if he made a mistake. It was heartbreaking yet amazing to hear how negative feelings towards oneself were felt so deeply. He wondered if Song Min's senses were developed so sensitively because of the protective  and survival instinct to take care of oneself. 

Like many craftsmen in the world who developed a feeling for their craft that reached the level of the other world. Song Min and those like him, surprisingly and regrettably developed that ability entirely to protect themselves. 

Song Min had no handicaps or lacked love in his home life and was unable to understand his own situation. Fortunately, he made the move from the cave to normal life in society.He still has plenty of time to make a life for himself. 

The priest hopes we will all be able to feel the beauty in the world through the emotions and senses that we have received. Being able to sympathize with a neighbor's pain, shed tears together, and be moved by nature's beauties. Above all, he hopes we will all experience God and his love. Just as Saint Francis considered the sun as his brother and the moon his sister, he believes that we can feel connected to everything in the world that God created and prays that all our wounds will be healed freeing us to enjoy life and all creation.

Using Artificial Intelligence Wisely

 

 In the recent Catholic Times, we had an editorial and two featured articles on the AI revolution taking place in society.

Information and communication technology have dramatically changed human civilization. With the rapid development of computer information processing technology, the Internet has changed the world beyond compare. Now we are experiencing a new technological advance.

ChatGPT which has recently become a hot topic is making it impossible to gauge the limitations of technology's impact on human life. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft in the U.S., predicted that it was "a significant invention as the Internet" and that it would "change the world."
 

In particular, today's artificial intelligence evolves on its own through learning. It is feared that the enormous potential could bring unimaginable good and harm to mankind. Therefore, we should think deeply about ways to use artificial intelligence, which is a product of human intelligence and use it ethically.

Already, interactive artificial intelligence is being actively used in all social sectors. As interest in this increases within the church, it is seeking ways to use artificial intelligence. For example, it is introducing an artificial intelligence chatbot in the upcoming Catholic believer app "Catholic Ha Sang."

The media, and even the Church's view of all the technology and goods on earth, is that it is a gift from God. In itself, the church teaches that science and technology are gifts from God to use correctly. Therefore, we need to use the new technology in the best interests of society. This is done by preparing rules and regulations to prevent it from being abused.

In particular, artificial intelligence chatbot technology is expected to be used in pastoral and missionary aspects. This is because artificial intelligence chatbots have the ability to quickly find the necessary information and organize it in an easy-to-see manner according to the user's question. Using search engines to locate information online reduces the time spent browsing various web pages, blogs, and social networking sites and checking these details—provided that the chatbot has learned databases related to theology, doctrine, the Bible, liturgy, spirituality, etc. It can easily listen to the answers needed by believers.

Experts say that above all, artificial intelligence should not be considered as if it could replace humans. It is easy to misunderstand that artificial intelligence is similar to humans because it can use language similar to humans and conduct conversations and consultations. Consequently, the concern is that those using artificial intelligence will seek psychological, mental comfort and satisfaction that can be obtained only from a personal encounter.

The Church teaches that every human being is called to a personal relationship with God and a personal relationship with our neighbors. It is for this reason that the sacrament can only be celebrated in a personal encounter between persons, that is, person to person. The director of the Catholic Institute of Bioethics said: “Meeting with a virtual entity called artificial intelligence cannot replace a personal encounter."

Furthermore, it remains a vital task for the church to think about how to proclaim the gospel in a world that is rapidly changing with artificial intelligence. If artificial intelligence develops, knowledge will be delivered excellently, but the gospel that the church must proclaim is not all about 'doctrinal knowledge'. It seems that the church's role in witnessing the value of human beings, the image of God, the value of life, and the value of personal encounters through life rather than knowledge will become more significant.

Distorted View of North Korea

The secretary of the National Reconciliation Committee of the Bishops' Conference in his Catholic Times column introduces readers to Professor Park Han-sik a North Korean expert now teaching in the States.

When people hear the word North Korea, they usually associate images of starving citizens and a dictator bent on provocation. The fundamental reason why peaceful resolution of conflicts on the Korean Peninsula is difficult is the lack of mutual trust. Even those who acknowledge the value of dialogue and respect for peace often do not consider North Korea open to compromise. It is because they believe that they cannot and should not communicate with the ‘devil’.

Professor Park Han-sik is a fascinating scholar who has been challenging "prejudice" against North Korea for over half a century. Born in Manchuria in 1939, Professor Park grew up experiencing the violence of war from an early age. After experiencing China's civil war and the Korean War, he graduated from the Department of Political Science at Seoul National University and went to the United States to study at the American University (Master's degree) and the University of Minnesota (PhD). He has been teaching international relations at the University of Georgia for 45 years, and studying Korean Peninsula issues.

The professor's unique career lies in his 50 or so visits to North Korea. He has facilitated numerous official and informal dialogues between North and South Korea. In 1994, he brokered Jimmy Carter's visit to Pyongyang to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis. Professor Park, who also arranged Bill Clinton's visit to Pyongyang in 2009, is also called the "architect for peace between the US and North Korea."

Some say that the North Korean nuclear issue had to be resolved by force at the beginning, but military methods require serious consideration. According to classified documents that were declassified in December 2017, as a result of simulations conducted by the US Department of Defense in 1994, it was estimated that even with a “surgical precision attack,” there was a high possibility that it would develop into an all-out war.

Recently, the Catholic Northeast Asia Peace Research Institute published an English translation of Professor Park Han-sik's memoir: 「Quest for Peace」. It was previously published in Korea. The book is distributed through Amazon's online bookstore and will provide English-speaking readers around the world with an updated perspective on the North Korea and the Korean Peninsula issue.

In order to achieve peace on the Korean Peninsula through peaceful means, change is necessary. North Korea must change, but our perspective on North Korea must also evolve. Only then can North Korea really change.

Evolution and Religious Faith Not Incompatable

 

 

In the Uncomfortable Talk Column of Catholic Peace Weekly, the writer gives us some of his thoughts on evolutionary theory.

Not long ago, he had a meeting with some scientists while planning a book. It was a place to discuss how to understand 'altruism' in science. All living creatures, including humans, act selfishly to preserve themselves and maintain the species. How can the altruistic act of yielding and sacrificing for others be ‘scientifically’ explained? 

Even selfish creatures behave altruistically since they benefit themselves in the long run, according to evolutionary theory. Altruistic behavior is often observed even in animals with very low intelligence. However, humans have also developed various devices that encourage altruism to preserve the species and maintain society from an evolutionary perspective. It is also explained that human evolution has internalized altruism by inventing a moral god beyond external coercion such as laws and social norms.

He was uncomfortable with reducing all phenomena of humans and living systems to the theory of evolution. However, at the end of the discussion, he felt even more uncomfortable at the words of a scientist who majored in evolutionary psychology. "I don’t understand why people believe in God while accepting the theory of evolution. How could that be?" Even human altruistic behavior that is against the self-preservation instinct can be explained by the theory of evolution, but the question was why the existence of religion or God is necessary.

However, the theory of evolution is no different in that it attributes much to chance. It is the same as explaining the synthesis process of protein, which is the starting point of all life, by chance. In scientific knowledge based on causal necessity, 'coincidence' is in fact equivalent to not knowing. Is it more than a coincidence to believe that the part we don't know is God's creative act? All life is one day, and one word of God (Logos) is all it is! I don't believe I was born with it. The creation perspective of Genesis is a magnificent narrative that tries to explain the beginning of this world through faith. There is no rational explanation for the contradiction that otherwise there was nothing and now there is something. For example, science cannot explain what happened before the Big Bang. We cannot conceive of a state in which all existence is condensed and neither time nor space exists.

Leibniz, a philosopher in the 17th century, advocated the theory of predestined harmony. This theory states that even though the movement of everything seems to follow mechanical causality, it is the work of God that directs it toward goodness.

Richard Dawkins, a representative modern atheist, criticized intelligent design theory, saying that no watchmaker makes such clockwork and that if the clock runs accurately, it is only the blind and unconscious result of natural selection. We may be at a crossroads where we must choose whether the right deed, such as altruism, is directed towards God's purposes or blindly.

Fortunately, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of The Origin of Species and the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth, the Pope announced the opinion that evolution and creationism do not contradict each other. He said, "If you read the Bible, you can imagine God as a wizard with a magic wand, but that is not the case." It was a criticism of the claims of creation science and intelligent design theory that the earth is 6000 years old. Believing in evolution does not mean you have to give up your faith. Rather, it would be more reasonable to say that God granted humans freedom to explore the secrets of this world. We have used that freedom to develop our own wisdom for thousands and tens of thousands of years. Now we are only given the responsibility to develop that wisdom in a way that does not ruin our God-given lives.

What We Need to Remember and To Forget

 

In the Eyes of the Believer Column of the Catholic Times a director of a Theological Institute gives the readers some thoughts on the truth and mercy connection that  society has to deal with not infrequently.

A second-generation Korean director active in Japan, was selected as the winner of a Peace Prize this year. The  director has been making documentary videos for 40 years together with the history academia and civic groups to teach the truth about the massacre of Koreans during the Great Kanto Earthquake in Japan. The date was September 1, 1923, at the time considered the worst natural disaster ever to strike quake-prone Japan. 

 

Before and after the awards ceremony, several Catholic groups joined together to watch documentary films  made and listen to lectures related to the earthquake under the supervision of Pax Christi Korea.

It was a 7.9-magnitude earthquake similar to the earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria a while ago. It left devastating damage. However, in the chaos of this disaster, rumors that  “Koreans poisoned wells” and “Koreans are setting fires and killing Japanese” spread and emergency martial law was declared, and vigilante groups organized by the military, police, and civilians started indiscriminately killing Koreans. About 6,600 Koreans were massacred during the Great Kanto Earthquake.

One documentary begins with a scene to excavate remains in a riverbed. This is the place where Koreans were slaughtered and buried during the earthquake. A Japanese civic group trying to find out the truth was allowed a limited period of three days to dig, but no remains were found. However,, a survivor  shows the scars left on his body and vividly testifies to the memories of that time, and Japanese residents also share their eyewitness accounts, recalling memories of the time, including diaries they wrote as children. The film restores the memories of the Kanto Massacre buried underground for 60 years, showing various historical materials and interviews with Japanese eyewitnesses intermittently showing the truth of the testimonies.

 

At the end of the film, a Korea witness is talking with a Japanese witness of the event, standing side by side the Japanese citizen is weeping and hopes that his grandchildren will not forget the truth of what happened. Perhaps the words we want to hear the most about the past history of the Japanese colonial era, the true reconciliation between Korea and Japan, is such a scene. 

  

On March 1st, the President read a commemorative speech to cooperate with Japan instead of mentioning the past, and a few days later, the government announced that the Korean companies should pay compensation to victims of forced labor. The government explains that we should stop demanding an apology from the Japanese government for past history, and focus on building a future-oriented Korea-Japan relationship that cooperates for security and economy. At first glance, the words to move toward the future rather than the past seem hopeful, but the writer is  concerned that the perpetrators are given an excuse to hide or distort the truth of history.

In 1973, conscientious citizens of Japan took the lead in erecting a memorial to Korean victims of the Great Kanto Earthquake. They held a memorial service for the Korean victims  on September 1 every year, and successive Tokyo governors have also sent polite eulogies to express their condolences. However, since 2017, the provincial governor has refused to send a eulogy, and provincial council members are pushing for the removal of memorial stones, and far-right citizens have disrupted the memorial service and continued anti-Korean protests, saying that the massacre of Koreans was a false accusation. 

It is not only yesterday that anti-Korean rumors similar to the Great Kanto Earthquake spread whenever disasters occur and many Japanese actually believe them. As the saying goes, history that is not remembered will repeat itself, so the path to true reconciliation will not be oblivion of the past.

To Cry With Those Who Cry

The Catholic Times on the One Mind One Body Suicide Prevention Center joint project: 'We are all one'. The director brings to the attention of readers that what we hear about suicide is just the tip of the iceberg. Under the shame of statistics are even larger numbers.

 'The tip of the iceberg' means that the invisible part is much larger than the visible part. Korea has accepted suicide as a social problem since the last IMF and has worked hard to change the situation. However, even after great effort, the suicide rate has increased year by year, and recently, more than 13,000 people have committed suicide every year. The number of people who fill the indoor gymnasium of Jamsil Sports Complex disappears every year. 

However, those who disappeared without notice and those who were killed accidentally and died without a will were excluded from the statistics. In addition, those who tried and failed were not considered.

Therefore, it is estimated that the actual number of suicides is about 2 to 3 times the statistics. Additionally, there are 'survivors of suicide'— the families of those who have died.

The suicide victim died alone in isolation, but numerous relationships were connected to the death of one person. The bereaved family refers to all those who have been close to each other even if they are not related by blood. An average of 10 bereaved family members are connected to each person who has died by suicide.  

Bereaved families do not show it on the outside, but inside they have an unresolved pain for the departed.

Questions that can never be answered, regret and self-reproach for not being able to figure it out, trauma that was directly or indirectly witnessed, resentment towards the deceased, the reality of not being able to accept death, a life where I feel guilty whether I laugh or cry, etc. Things repeat over and over again without blurring, continuing the pain that seems to never end.

On the other hand, the risk of suicide among bereaved families is 7 to 8 times higher than that of the general public. The reason is that the choice of those who left the painful reality first seems to be an attractive solution. Therefore, sincere care for the bereaved family is a large part of suicide prevention activities.

Humans cry and suffer when they are in pain. And the director feels relieved just by revealing it. Even if the problem isn't resolved. Survivors of suicide are hidden and unrevealed. It is because they try to hide it within the community and even within their own families. They do not want to reveal the sadness and tears that usually come unexpectedly, and their joy is suppressed by guilt, so their place among people decreases. Thus, they become isolated and find it very difficult to be consoled.

Jesus "did not come to judge the world, but to save the world" (John 12:47). Jesus himself came to be with those who are suffering. People who are really struggling are hidden, and what is needed for those who died in pain and their families is not stigma, but to cry with them.