Abstract
Usually we expect that religion suggests pros and cons with regard to bioethical dilemmas such as organ transplants or embryonic stem cell research. These issues are understood as problems, which emerge along with the development of medical technology and cannot be resolved by conventional schema. It is true that religion traditionally deals with the events of "life, death and medical services." However, in modern society its role is limited to the private area, and we cannot refer to religious ideas as a ground for public decisions. This paper focuses on the role of religion for introducting the idea of welfare into the bioethics discourse. It examines the notion of "welfare" and refers to its original meaning of "taking care of others' life, security and well-being." From this viewpoint welfare is not only social assistance for needy persons, but also a fundamental concept of society. We can find the origin of welfare in Biblical insights about humanity and society. Thus, Genesis contains the fundamental view of respect for human dignity. Moreover, Jubilee (or Shabatts) can be interpreted as a social program which tries to secure and materialize this view. In this context, welfare is understood as a program of symbiosis of community members whose diversity causes a rupture of community. Considering welfare as a program of symbiosis, we can recognize the importance of introducting the idea of welfare into bioethics. It is true that this role can be presented by non-religious discourse. However, in the discussion about the fundamental importance of symbiosis, religion can, for the moment, give us crucial insights. Even if bioethics is based only on human ethics, it could manage to deal with bioethical dilemmas. But the development of biotechnology can undermine symbiosis. In this sense, we need religious insights, which sometimes go beyond human ethics.
