IRANIAN CLERGY URGED TO BE PROACTIVE ON CLONING

September 7, 1997

TEHRAN (AFP) - A prominent Iranian cleric has warned theological students to equip themselves with modern learning to meet the challenges of human cloning -- like how to resolve disputes of inheritance, newspapers said.

Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi said the clergy faced a "daunting task in answering the spiritual needs" of the modern man. "Numerous phenomenons are unfolding in today's world and the (religious) jurists must be prepared to deal with them," he said in a speech inaugurating the new school year for Shia Muslim students in the holy city of Qom in central Iran.

"One example is human cloning, which is now being studied in the West. If that happens, we have to know how to deal with legal problems such as disputes over inheritance, or familial relationships," the Ayatollah said.

His comments were in line with growing calls to revamp Iran's religious schools to prepare the clergy for modern challenges. The clergy has been ruling the country since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and they initially were accused by pro-secularist circles of lacking the logical intellectual tools to understand worldly phenomenons.

Shirazi also unveiled a plan to train 5,000 clergymen to educate the young against "immoral Western culture."

"We have to be able to talk to the young in their own language and meet their intellectual and spiritual needs," he said. Around 60,000 clerical students began the new school year yesterday.