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This website is being renovated throughout 2008. Pages and the content of pages will continue to change until the end of the year and there may be some inconsistencies and missing links. Please do not quote from or link to specific pages (apart from the home page) without contacting the webmaster first. Sailing towards the iceberg Uncertain times and faith By © Martin Foreman Word Count: 796 words Publication date: September 18, 2005 Decades ago, as a teenager inhaling the euphoria of the late nineteen-sixties, I was an optimist. I believed that with a little effort, the world would come together, war would cease and poverty, racism and sexism would all be eradicated. Forty years older and wiser, I find myself steeped in pessimism as humanity races mindlessly towards destruction. It is easy to ignore the signs. Most of us in the developed world live comfortably in climate-controled apartments, in instant communication with friends and families and with near limitless choices in entertainment. We are not only healthier and live longer lives than our parents and grandparents but life offers us choices that they never dreamed of. In every country there are women and men whose grandparents scraped a living off the land, whose parents moved to the city to find work in factories and shops, and who themselves own two cars and vacation in Florida and Europe. Life is good, but so was life on the Titanic as that symbol of affluence sailed towards the iceberg that sank it. Most of us are too busy to look into the future, but those who do, do not like what they see – a world blighted by overpopulation, violence and environmental degradation. No serious scientist today denies global warming. Across America the initial impact can be seen, from the melting permafrost in Alaska to the intensity of Hurricane Katrina. Further afield, the Arctic and Antarctic iceshelves are disintegrating. It rains frequently in Kashgar, western China, where it never rained before, and snow now falls only sporadically in Warsaw where it once snowed heavily every year. A rising sea level, flooding cities and countries across the globe, is only one legacy we are leaving our children. Cancer rates will go up as the ozone layer continues to weaken. More deformities will come from the chemicals we pump into the land, air and water tables. The natural world continues to shrink as we push deeper into ecosystems that were once human-free. Say goodbye to the shrinking Everglades, the eroding Mojave Desert, the beleaguered Brazilian rainforest, the dying Australian coral reef. Along with hundreds of millions of others, I plead guilty. Every year I cross the world from America to Asia, from Asia to Europe and from Europe back to America, with every plane trip spewing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. My apartment overflows with plastic bags from the local supermarket, where the wine and vegetables I buy come from the other side of the globe. I have drawers and shelves stuffed with DVDs, clothes and other paraphernalia that I do not need. I leave lights on in rooms that I do not use, burn electricity in every appliance with a timer. I recycle as much as I can, but it is a pointless gesture compared to what I consume. If I were the only villain, or if there were just a few of us, the world could survive. But half the world is plundering the planet today and the other half is desperate to follow our example. America is the worst offender. Three hundred million people live here and the population grows by more than a million each year. There are no more deserted forests, no beaches to stroll alone, no rivers which see only bears and salmon. The buffalo and native Americans who roamed the land two centuries ago have given way to SUVs. Violence is endemic to the human race and it is exacerbated by the pressures of over-population. The United States has not yet reached that point, but there are many countries where half the population is under twenty, where employment is scarce and the only wealth is self-esteem. In such circumstances many young men turn to crime, easy violence and even terrorism. Two hundred years ago, technological and social progress seemed inevitable. We did not need religion when reason served us so well. In the last fifty years, however, technology has leapt ever faster forward, while the world and its future have become increasingly uncertain. In such circumstances, it is not surprising that there has been a resurgence of religious faith. The challenges that face humanity require a rational response, but reason takes time and effort and it is easier for most people to retreat into superstition. Faith is reassuring, tells us that God will take care of us, that we do not need to worry about tomorrow. Faith may be a solution for individuals, but it is a disaster for the planet. It diverts our attention from the the real issues of the day – poverty, overpopulation and the destruction of the ecosystem – to false concerns such as gay marriage and prayer in schools. The world is already a scary place – faith’s encouraging of ignorance makes it scarier still.
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If God existed, he would... admire the beauty of a universe that he did not create recognize that eternity is meaningless deny both heaven and hell disown all men and women who speak in his name denounce the harm caused by religious "morality" help the human race to thrive without him If God existed, he would be an atheist. |