The loss of the court case by anti-stem cell Christians is a blow both for 14th century obscurantism and a victory for scientific progress.

The arguments put forward by the Committee of Reproductive Ethics (a fundamentalist Christian front group)and The Christian Legal Centre have now been ruled by the Judge to be “wholly without merit”. Their opinions are not based upon science but, on interpretation of scripture, superstition and ignorance. They and their allies in the Catholic church like the anti-homosexual bigot Cardinal Keith O’Brien have even tried to compare stem-cell research to Nazi science experiments. O’Brien the cult leader of Scotland’s alleged 750,000 Catholics tried to bully Labour MPs into voting against the embryology and fertilisation bill even threatening them with
ex-communication (or at least an attempt to use local pulpits to have voted out).

O’Brien argued it was a matter of “conscience”. Although this did not seem to extend to the Iraq war, ID cards, the renewal of Trident or any other issue which did not contradict Church dogma.

Such scare tactics on research that could be used to cure Parkinson’s, Diabetes, Alzheimer’s are sick in the extreme.

CLC spokeswoman Andrea Minichiello Williams called it a “sad day for justice in Britain”. Such claims are laughable and pathetic. CLC and CORE are not poor organisations. They are well funded rich reactionary Christians who will easily be able to pay the £20,000 costs the Judge imposed against them. With a bit of luck however they may go the way of fellow failed fundamentalist extremist and bigot Stephen Green who could not pay the BBC’s costs when he tried to have them prosecuted for the blasphemy over Jerry Springer the opera

These so-called faith groups have an agenda. They wish to role back the enlightenment, abolish democracy and impose Christian theocratic rule on an increasingly secular population. They want to criminalise abortion and bring back the death penalty for blasphemy and make the Bible the basis of all law. Their views are not dissimilar to those of the Saudi kleptocracy or the Taliban

Blind faith has no place in science just as thinking has no place in organised religion.