[More] claptrap from “on high”
Posted 11 March, 2008 in Climate change, Political issues, Religion and environment
You all know the Seven Deadly Sins, the ones that they made the film about? Well, they’re no longer deadly enough according to the Vatican. Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti has come up with a new list, especially designed for the media-savvy generation of new kids on the block. Here’s the things you shouldn’t get mixed up in, if you don’t want to be eternally toasted (in not a nice way):
Environmental pollution
Genetic manipulation
Accumulating excessive wealth
Inflicting poverty
Drug trafficking and consumption
Morally debatable experiments
Violation of fundamental rights of human nature.
Genetic manipulation? What? So generations of gentle country vicars and priests, devotedly going about cultivating the perfect rose variety, are now wailing and gnashing their teeth? How wrong can you be?
Thanks Archie (or whatever your name is), but you’re not helping. I know I’m going to lose readers here: that won’t make very much difference to the webstats right now, so here goes. eighteenpercentcarbon.com holds as a fundamental principle the absolute non-existence of any divine being. Belief in said beings ranks with Father Xmas, Easter bunnies and the tooth fairy, which curiously are both the source of much “wonder” among young children whose parents think it’s cute to deceive them. And then comes the anguish when the poor child realises its all a lie.
What has this got to do with carbon? Simply that we don’t need the threat of eternal damnation to challenge and address the climatic problems we’re facing. Surely in the history of humankind there has not been one single example where organized religion brought about a better outcome to a situation than rational thought. We’re with the brights on this one. The Roman Catholic church should get its own house in order – like stopping its priests from molesting small boys – before it offers up, or rather hands down, its decree on how to save the planet.
This is going to be something that we come back to time and again (one of my things is how religion is interfering with wildlife conservation), so there’s plenty of time to kick back and relax…
