title: [Secular bioethics and religious bioethics. Keys to a contemporary argument].
abstract: Within the context of the contemporary plural debate, it is common to use the adjective secular as if it were the only manner to participate in the bioethical debate of Western multi-ethnic society. This situation gives rise to the question of whether there can be a religious contribution to the current bioethical debate. There are two possible answers. The first, an affirmative one, is centered on the fact that contemporary society is characterized by pluralistic and secular values on which is based the obligations of its members, defined by consensus through democratic procedures. In this context, religious contribution, as something from the private sphere, must be excluded. The alternative response to our central question may be negative, based on the assertion that human beings are identified as members of different value systems, many of them imbued with religious elements. From this point of view, the religious phenomenon would be one of the most important elements in the debate on cultural pluralism, because it guides, and serves as an inspiration of our conduct. This article aims to answer our central question by analyzing each of the two possible positions. The article is divided into two sections; the first analyses the significance of the term secular when it is employed in the sphere of bioethics and the second examines whether, within the scope of democratic societies, the current religious contribution to the bioethics debate has any legitimacy. The article ends with some conclusions.
authors.affiliation: Dpto. Derecho Público e Instituciones Jurídicas Básicas, Edif. Bibliotecas, Campus Universitario, Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Navarre, Spain. mdiazdet@unav.es
authors.forename: M Cruz
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Díaz de Terán Velasco
mesh_terms: D001675:Bioethics; D006076:Government; D012067:Religion; D035621:Secularism