The world’s major conflict is that between the social Darwinists and the humanists. Social Darwinists believe the law of the jungle is unchangeable. The humanist believes that it is within man’s power and is man’s desire that the law of the jungle be repealed. The law posits that any species will procreate until it consumes the resources upon which its life depends resulting in resource wars only the fittest will survive. We have the means to prevent conception and the wealth to provide contraception to everyone. Islam apparently believes that “Go ye forth and multiply” is the will of Allah and our religious scruples stop us from championing a population control policy. Can Islam be persuaded that investing heavily in a few children is a better survival strategy than endless procreation? Can we decide that it is better to save people from drowning in the Mediterranean or the Caribbean than saving the potential life of a fetus whose spawners don’t want or can’t afford a baby? While we dither the jungle encroaches!

Religious social Darwinists are comfortable with a tyrannical Old Testament God. Social Darwinists encourage religious fundamentalism, enlist religious fervor to support their elitist economic policies. Humanists are comfortable with New Testament values such as those in Matthew. Society contorts itself trying to accommodate people with such conflicting ideas. The resulting diet of compromises and rationalizations becomes unpalatable. The economic system used to organize is doomed to environmental collapse.

Will mankind develop new patterns of organization or will the ruling elite continue to amass wealth in an attempt to exempt themselves from the common fate? The ruling elite will lose much if the “moral majority” starts behaving morally, demands substance instead of symbols, exerts itself to build a civilized world instead of waiting for bureaucracies to provide one. It is not too late for Christians to practice Christianity! Where will you stand?

 

John E. Gibson 

Owatonna