Religion and the Fate of the Earth

The force of religion has governed the courses of nations and led to migrations that have opened up continents to civilization, as well as decimating the native inhabitants of those continents. It has literally inspired humans to do things that have transformed and degraded the planet—more so than perhaps any other force or adaptation. The underlying brain processes are here to stay, but the time has come to get rid of some of the memes. If we take charge of our minds, to the extent that we can, we might be able to get rid of the bad religion memes and keep the good ones.

Perhaps the most powerful meme is the idea that humans are the masters of the planet. This meme is most predominant in Western religions. True, countries dominated by Buddhists and Hindus have environmental problems also. The Ganges is one of the most polluted rivers in the world. But at least people in the Eastern religious traditions do not think that it is the will of God when they cut down forests or pollute the waters. The Hindus believed that the Ganges makes everything that enters it, even corpses, pure—and their religion made them ignore the obvious stench of cognitive dissonance. Frans DeWaal speculates that human cultures that evolved in tropical regions could not invent a religion that placed humans, and humans alone, at the apex of creation, since they were surrounded by very human-like apes and monkeys. Perhaps only in desert regions, where Jews and Arabs dwelt with obviously less intelligent cattle, goats, sheep, and camels, could a religion of human superiority have evolved. A religion based solely upon the words of Jesus of Nazareth would more closely resemble an Eastern religion than the hierarchical and oppressive Western religions supposedly based upon them.

Christianity is the western religion that has created the most environmental destruction. For most of Christian history, and in most of Christendom today, the followers believe that the first chapter of Genesis has given them permission to subdue the Earth, to transform its forests and plains into cities with churches. Perhaps most Christians choose to believe this rather than the second chapter of Genesis, in which God tells Adam and Eve to take care of the garden in which they live. Most Christians have treated the Earth as if they were its father, disciplining it, rather than as if they were its mother, nurturing it. Christianity will remain a force of environmental destruction unless or until it embraces an idea that was best expressed, I believe, by Jerry Deffenbaugh, a Disciples Church minister. He said the Earth needs some mothering; it has had just about all of the fathering it can take.

This essay is part of my forthcoming book Life of Earth: Portrait of a Beautiful, Middle-Aged, Stressed-Out World, just out from Prometheus Books.