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Lord of the Rings Profits Used to Support Embryonic Stem Cell Research

By Gudrun Schultz

WELLINGTON, New Zealand, July 17, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Profits from the Lord of the Rings film trilogy are being used to fund destructive human embryonic research at the University of California, reported the Mainichi Daily News.

Filmmakers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, who brought the J.R.R. Tolkien epic to the screen, together donated US $310,000 last Saturday to fund research using the stem cells of human embryos.

“Stem cell therapy has the potential to treat a multitude of diseases and illnesses which up until now have been labelled ‘incurable,’” the pair said in a statement released by the University of California.

“Continuing advances in stem cell medicine will change all of our lives for the better.”

Despite such assumptions, research using human embryonic stem cells has so far been unsuccessful. All of the breakthroughs using stem cells for medical therapy have so far been found through the use of adult stem cells—cells obtained directly from the individual in need of therapy and used successfully to treat a growing list of serious illnesses.

Embryonic stem cell research has received international criticism, including disapproval by the US government, because the research involves the killing of human embryos in the very earliest stages of development. The Catholic Church, in particular, has condemned any research that involves the use or destruction of the human embryo as intrinsically immoral.

Ironically, despite the undercurrent of traditional morality that forms the foundation of The Lord of the Rings trilogy—Tolkien was a devout Roman Catholic—the film has been used as a springboard to promote policies in direct opposition to Catholic teaching.

British actor Ian McKellen, who portrayed the wizard Gandalf in the film, has used the international recognition generated by the film to further his promotion of homosexuality, campaigning for homosexual “marriage” in Britain.

See previous LifeSiteNews coverage:

Lord of the Rings Star Using Fame from Film to Promote Homosexual "Marriage"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/may/06050409.html ;

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