What the Earth Needs Is Less Religion and More Worship

Earth Meanders by Dr. Glen Barry
February 8, 2006

It is hard for me to say whether I find Islamic or Christian fundamentalists more distasteful and dangerous to the Earth and prospects for post-industrial civilized society. I see little of merit in murderous and medieval Islam. And the spread of Christian thought has defiled and destroyed much in nature that is sacred and good.

Both Christianity and Islam are deadly, antiquated belief systems that are sending humanity and the Earth into a death spiral. Both offer no basis for government; or promise for just, equitable and sustainable living. Both have institutionalized killing in the name of God. Both hold and follow a set of archaic superstitions that provide little guidance in times of ecological overshoot, overpopulation and resource wars.

There is nothing more surreal than watching Bush exhort the Muslim world to be less violent as he orders bombs dropped that kill their women and children. Or anything as vile as Iranian leaders in an uproar over cartoons, as they graduate from suicide bombs to nuclear warheads. Global security and even survival depend upon a new model of global governance free from all religious fanaticism.

We desperately need thinkers who speak not as members of a religious sect or political party, but rather think freely and speak truthfully of the human condition and aspirations, and are rooted in the Earth processes that make all life possible. It is only from such thought that communities and policy can emerge that are adequate to overcome an era of militancy and ecological collapse.

Organized religion by and large is for the weak minded that require superstitious faith to alleviate their suffering, disappointments and modest prospects. There is nothing inherently wrong with this irrational belief in ghosts and spirits and messiahs. But as the organizing basis of modern society, it is lacking, dangerous and delusional. Is denial of the human condition any way to live?

It is a tragedy that calm, gentle, often feminine indigenous religions that worshipped the Earth and her life have not prospered. These more practical beliefs are rooted in reality - the fact that we are all one with the Earth and each other. But biocentric faith suffered from an unwillingness to kill, proselytize and play to humanity's worst fears in order to become dominant.

This is what I know. The Earth is alive. Humanity is part of the Earth, but also utterly dependent upon the other parts, their interactions and the whole. We have looked far into the stars and our cells yet do not yet understand, or rather are unwilling to accept, our own true nature and place in the universe. We are animals that have rapidly evolved new facilities of thought, reflection and consciousness - yet still defecate and fornicate as all creatures do.
In an era of jet planes, global communications and ecological science it is time for the death of organized cults of personality that have persisted due to chance and militancy of superstition. It is time for Mohammad and Christ to take their place amongst historical figures, but die as false messiahs upon which to base human relations, well-being and governance.

Not all organized religion cultists can or should give up their delusional faith. But never again can personal faith based upon what is unknowable be thrust upon non-believers, or used as justification to desecrate natural systems or to kill others that believe differently
What the Earth needs is less religion and more worship. Ritual and personal faith have a major role to play in sustaining ecosystems. The Earth is truly worthy of worship, as a real and evident embodiment of a nurturing father/mother figure that possesses the ability to give life. The Earth is God (or at least the closest approximation to be found in these troubling, fanatical times).