Religion and science don’t always overlap. But when they do, religion reporters need to be informed. This primer can help.

A scholarly treatment of the debate can be found in the book The Ethics of Embryo Adoption and the Catholic Tradition: Moral Arguments, Economic Reality and Social Analysis, co-edited by Sarah-Vaughan Brakman and Darlene Fozard Weaver.

And a Dec. 31, 2008, Catholic News Service feature looks at one committed Catholic couple who would like to adopt frozen embryos and were perplexed by the Vatican instruction.

Christianity Today, the flagship evangelical monthly, in July 2010 posted a forum on the issue featuring essays exploring different approaches to the question of frozen embryos. “Frozen Embryos: First, Help Couples” is by Ellen Painter Dollar, author of a new book about Christian perspectives on reproductive and genetic technology. “Christians need much better resources for ethical and […]

An Aug. 3, 2005, poll by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life and the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found that by a nearly 2-1 ratio (57 percent to 30 percent) Americans said it was more important to conduct stem cell research to find new cures than to not destroy the […]

See CNN’s web page on stem cells for a general description and timeline of their prominence throughout history.

The Rev. Bob Edgar is general secretary of the National Council of Churches which works for ecumenical cooperation among Christians in the United States. Contact through director of media relations Daniel Webster.

Carrie Gordon Earll is bioethics analyst for Focus on the Family, which opposes all forms of cloning and embryonic stem cell research on the grounds that any embryo is a human life.

Sean B. Tipton is a president of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research which represents universities and health advocates and supports research cloning.