Religious People Are Against Scientific Technology

There is a myth that religious people do not like technology, whether it is the Internet, social media, or medical technologies. In fact, religious people’s concerns with many technologies mirror those of nonreligious people. As for social media, for instance, religious people fear what these technologies can do to relationships. And yet religious people support these technologies for the ways they can grow, strengthen, and connect communities of faith. While religious people are not unique in their concerns about many technologies, there are a few that concern religious people, in particular: reproductive genetic technologies (RGTs), in vitro fertilization (IVF), and human embryonic stem-cell (hESC) research. Biomedical technologies, specifically those related to “human enhancement,” tend to intersect directly with faith and can cause tension with religious groups. In other words, people of faith have theological concerns about these technologies because they seem to have implications for who God is and who human beings are and what it means to have a good life.