Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Message of Science & Religion - Western - 4

The Hypothetical Epistle
Put down your copy of The Holy Origin of Species, The Holy Bible, The Holy Koran, The Holy Vedas, and The Holy Book of Atheism for a moment.

Put away your notion of "my doom is better than your doom" for a short while as well.

And I will too.

Then, let's focus on what so many who espouse any of those ideologies have noticed: that there is overlap on a major issue, which The Guardian calls The Biggest Story (What are the risks of telling the biggest story in the world?).

This series began years ago to consider the concept of doom that is prevalent in both climate and war science as well as in climate and war religion:
Science and religion both tell us of future catastrophe and a way out.

They both tell us to learn to live together to avoid the catastrophe, and they both tell us we must go into "heaven" or suffer "hell" for it. Yes they do.
...
Science says our star the sun will destroy the earth in the future, but there is a way out.

We must go into the heavens and find another home planet to live upon.

We must learn to live together here and now, and be decent to this planet in the interim.
...
If we do not travel into the heavens our fate will be determined when the sun eventually turns the inner four planets of this solar system into the fires of hell.

Religion talks of potential Armageddon but those who are good will be spared, those who are good will go into heaven to a better home.

It generally teaches us that the golden rule is to be good to each other treating one another as we would be treated. If we do not there will be a hell instead of a heaven.

That is essentially the same story told by two factions, but the how it is done is where the two stories drift far apart.

Science teaches us we must physically do it ourselves, but religion in a general sense teaches us that we are to be saved by metaphysical intervention.
(Message of Science & Religion - Western, 2009). The advent of the murder suicide pact of current civilization (Civilization Is Now On Suicide Watch, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) is way, way ahead of the very long term solar catastrophe written about in that quote.

The threat of doom in the near term is a matter of focus on nuclear war and the environmental destruction of our life support system on Earth.

Let's take a look at the environmental suicide dynamics, from both the scientific as well as from the religious sides of the equation.

Today's religious and scientific contemplation:
The Vatican is hosting a climate change summit that will focus on the need for decisive action to combat global warming as a moral imperative and Christian duty, especially given its impact on poor people.

The Protect the Earth, Dignify Humanity meeting in Rome on Tuesday is a precursor to the release of Pope Francis’s encyclical on the environment, which is due out in June or July and is expected to centre on the duty of the faithful to address climate change, whatever its causes.

Pope Francis is not scheduled to speak at the summit but was due to have a private meeting with the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, who will be delivering the keynote address. The planned remarks by Cardinal Peter Turkson, the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, will also be closely followed because of his role drafting the encyclical.

The summit – which will include speakers and representatives from all major religions – has brought about a rare meeting of minds between scientists and religious officials on climate change, even if they frame their arguments in different ways.
(Vatican Climate Change Summit, emphasis added). Both religious and scientific disciplines have members who realize that destroying the life support system of the Earth is the mindset of those who are not here (You Are Here).

The alternative is a murder-suicide pact (MOMCOM's Mass Suicide & Murder Pact - 5, 4, 3, 2, 1).

One is good, the other is not.

Our civilization must learn which is which in order to pass the test.

The conference overseers produced this statement:
"Humanity has entered a new era. Our technological prowess has brought humanity to a crossroads. We are the inheritors of two centuries of remarkable waves of technological change: steam power, railroads, the telegraph, electrification, automotive transport, aviation, industrial chemistry, modern medicine, computing, and now the digital revolution, biotechnologies and nanotechnologies. These advances have reshaped the world economy into one that is increasingly urban and globally connected, but also more and more unequal.

However, just as humanity confronted “Revolutionary Change” (Rerum Novarum) in the Age of Industrialization in the 19th century, today we have changed our natural environment to such an extent that scientists are redefining the current period as the Age of the Anthropocene, that is to say an age when human action, through the use of fossil fuels, is having a decisive impact on the planet. If current trends continue, this century will witness unprecedented climate changes and ecosystem destruction that will severely impact us all."
(Statement of the Joint PAS/PASS Workshop on Sustainable Humanity, Sustainable Nature: Our Responsibility).

The previous post in this series is here

12 comments:

  1. The days of the daze are numbered (link).

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh man.

    The mistakes were made probably 10,000 years ago or more, humanity moving to an agrarian mode of life and turning its back on the hunter-gatherer lifestyle it had for as long as we'd been here. This lead to "civilization" which solidifies, codifies, protects, encourages, instructs and WORSHIPS this knew paradigm.

    The Catholic Church, of Inquisition fame (among too many others to name - including persecution of scientists) preached GO FORTH AND MULTIPLY AND SUBDUE THE EARTH (and the rest of the blather in their "holy" book). So here we are! Overpopulated, polluted beyond belief, and NOW the fuckers want to talk? TOO LATE PONTIFF! You're Infallableness. There's no fixing Fukushima, nobody's slowin' down the oil, coal, gas and fracking nightmare (though the results are obvious, lazy humanity doesn't want to go back to living any other way), and even if we shut all of civilization down tomorrow, the toxic build up of CO2 (etc.) will determine the degradation of both climate and biosphere for thousands of years.

    As Jason Box noted: we're fucked.

    Tom

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    Replies
    1. What ever happened to credit where credit is due?

      Were you around during the inquisition to notice anyone here there?

      The guilt of the ancients means we should not respect correct thinking now?

      Delete
  3. It is the fossil fuels stupid.

    ReplyDelete
  4. We are evolved.

    I am doing a piece based on the work of Trivers on the evolution of self-deception (e.g. On The Origin of Propaganda - 2).

    ReplyDelete
  5. Randy: their ignorance continues to this day. i'm happy that these guys are meeting to at least bring up climate change - a lot of people are still deluded about it - but this should have happened back in the 1960s (actually it should have happened to stop the Industrial Revolution from taking place) to have had any effect. In fact what started as communal living, getting out of the rat race and other 'hippy' ideas were roundly quashed and replaced by even more consumerism back then.

    More conflicts have risen from religious differences than for any other reasons. My God is bigger, better, more whatever than your God. Why don't the various churches speak out against the evils of capitalism while they're at it - it'll have the same effect (none). i don't see humanity giving up electricity or fossil fuels or overfishing or building nuclear power plants or money or anything else anytime soon, even KNOWING that the way we're living is literally killing the planet. Unless there is a viable alternative people aren't going to give up this lazy way of life.

    Dredd - i'm not deluding myself about this. The meeting will be pointless and have no effect on anything - because they're all embedded in the social and economic structures that support them. THAT is what has to change in order to attack the climate issue. It's a great idea - if it happened at the end of the Dark Ages and steered humanity into a different, non-overpopulated, non-polluted state of being, but now, especially with all the climate-change feedbacks, it's far too late, imho.

    Tom

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    Replies
    1. Tom,

      Dredd - i'm not deluding myself about this.
      ================================
      I did not say you were. You made some good points "i'm happy that these guys are meeting to at least bring up climate change - a lot of people are still deluded about it"

      If we do not allow for people to change when they are wrong, if we do not allow them to see the danger of climate change, then we are BAU (brain-locked and unaware) ourselves.

      This Pope is doing the right thing, and facing a lot of resistance like the climate scientists and anti Oil-Qaeda movement is.

      It comes from the dark lords of the oil empire who are engineering a mass murder suicide campaign affecting billions. Billions of people.

      I will accept the changes of Oil-Qaeda just as quickly as I did those the Vatican is promoting, so long as they realize what the Pope did.

      American protestant religion is more for oil and war than the catholic religion is at this point.

      What happened in the fog of 10,000 years ago is not as clear as what happened at the meeting on Tuesday.

      I have chided right wing Catholics for being insensitive to environmental issues, so, it is also appropriate to acknowledge those of that church when they do get it (New Continent Found - Garbage Gyre II).

      I will do the same to the High Priest of Denial, Senator Inhofe, if and when he loses his very serious delusion.

      Anything less is inappropriate.

      Delete
  6. That, i'll give you Dredd (last statements); but come on, do you really think anything is going to change NOW? None of this would even be discussed if the Earth wasn't responding to all our misuse and abuse by reacting with climate change in all its manifestations. The religious leaders and everyone else has been happy to keep going along with the 'modern' paradigm of easy living through fossil fuels, though the warnings have been out there for almost a century. Everything is going to change now because it HAS to - there's no alternative and we've "painted" ourselves into a corner with our pollution and overpopulation. Climate change is impacting crops and food shortages are already appearing. Giant die-offs are already taking place and will continue no matter what we idiot humans do. Even if we all die tomorrow, climate change will continue to degrade biological conditions on the planet until it re-balances sometime in the next perhaps million years.

    Also:

    Christians are leaving the faith in droves and the trend isn't slowing down
    http://finance.yahoo.com/news/christians-leaving-faith-droves-trend-173818770.html

    [Some of this may have something to do with the on-going public pedophilia scandals.]

    Tom


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I do not seek accuracy, give credit where it is due, attribute wrong to only the wrongdoer who did the wrong, or acknowledge the better or best of ideas because it will change anything..

      I do it because it is the intellectually honest thing to do.

      Others can speak for themselves.

      Delete
  7. "California Gov. Jerry Brown issued an executive order Wednesday directing the state to cut is greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030, the toughest proposed cuts of any state in the nation." (link)

    "It won't change anything."

    So, take a tour around Europe and the U.S. and tell people that?

    Dumb shit!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Right, don't tell the truth because it may upset someone. Whatever, Randy (you're right about the dumb shit part though - very perceptive of you).

    Tom

    ReplyDelete
  9. Church of England wields its influence in fight against climate change (link).

    ReplyDelete