Archbishop Peter Jensen's bioethics advisor is urging Christians to oppose moves to allow human cloning.
Dr Megan Best, a lecturer in medical ethics at the University of New South Wales and a member of Sydney Diocese's Social Issues Executive, says Christians need to be better informed about the danger of legislation that seeks to overturn a ban on the cloning of human embryos for research.
"A lot of people think the debate in federal politics is about stem cells, but it's really about cloning," Dr Best says.
"Christians need to be very clear about what the debate is about. It's about creating human beings in order to destroy them. Whether you call it therapeutic cloning or reproductive cloning or somatic cell nuclear transfer, cloning is cloning. It is all the same technology.
"Anyone who thinks the dignity of human beings will be eroded by creating human beings to be laboratory research material needs to make a stand and let their local federal politicians know they are opposed to the legislation."
In December the Lockhart review recommended overturning a ban on the procedure.
Liberal senator Kay Patterson and Australian Democrats senator Natasha Stott Despoja are planning separate private members bills that follow the Lockhart recommendations.
Proponents say therapeutic cloning of embryos could cure a range of diseases including motor neurone disease and diabetes.
The Social Issues Executive will lodge a submission to a parliamentary inquiry next month.
The Prime Minister John Howard has called for a conscience vote on the issue.
"Of course we all want sick people to get better; we want to see new cures," Dr Best says.
"The good news is that adult stem cells are already treating diseases" the benefits of embryonic stem cell treatments are still theoretical."
