Paper short abstract:

A very important function of religion is to make projections of desirable or ideal human qualities onto the sacred actors. South Asian religious narratives on the embryon transfer provide emic justification of Assisted Reproductive Technologies.

Paper long abstract:

My paper has a normative stance. The aim of the paper is to look how South Asian religious traditions might cope with Assisted Reproductive Technology, in particular with surrogacy.

I start with the factual statement that despite increasing use of Assisted Reproductive Technologies by religious subjects in South Asia, the general normative attitude of the religious authorities in South Asia (here I point out the Hindu, the Jain and the Buddhist traditions) are often reserved towards the Assisted Reproductive Technology.

I further look at one specific function of religion (method) and at some emic narratives through the prism of this function (application). As Ludwig Feuerbach pointed out almost 200 years ago, a very important function of religion is to make projections of desirable or ideal human qualities onto the sacred actors.

The paper suggests that the religious narratives on the embryon transfer in the South Asian traditions open a viable path for reasonable emic (internal religious) justification for Assisted Reproductive Technologies that could be appropriated by religious subjects coping with the use of ART.