Re: [asa] Wilson's "The Creation"

At 11:48 AM 9/5/2006, Randy Isaac wrote:
>Wilson's latest book is due out today. The
>summary extraction of it is at
>http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20060904&s=wilson090406
>
>I wondered what those of you on this list
>thought about his approach and his appeal to the
>Christian community to join forces in this endeavor.
>
>Randy

@ His approach is predictable given his
religious beliefs. His appeal will get him
nowhere with the orthodox Christian community
whom he insults by accusing them of not being
interested in heeding God's admonition to be good
stewards of everything he has given us. Like
all of C.S. Lewis' "omnipotent moral
busybodies", he torments the rest of us to
conform to his extremist religion ie: radical
environmentalism
http://www.crichton-official.com/speeches/index.html
in place of biblical
conservation.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/0521010683/ref=cm_cr_dp_2_1/103-1171916-7636635?%5Fencoding=UTF8&customer-reviews.sort%5Fby=-SubmissionDate&n=283155

 From
Booklist http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0393062171?v=glance

Famed entomologist, humanist thinker, and cogent
writer Wilson issues a forthright call for unity
between religion and science in order to save the
"creation," or living nature, which is in "deep
trouble." Addressing his commonsensical yet
ardent discourse to "Dear Pastor," he asks why
religious leaders haven't made protecting the
creation part of their mission. Forget about
life's origins, Wilson suggests, and focus on the
fact that while nature achieves "sustainability
through complexity," human activities are driving
myriad species into extinction, thus depleting
the biosphere and jeopardizing civilization.
Wilson celebrates individual species, each a
"masterpiece of biology," and acutely analyzes
the nexus between nature and the human psyche. In
the book's frankest passages, he neatly refutes
fantasies about humanity's ability to re-create
nature's intricate web, and deplores the use of
religious belief (God will take care of it) as an
impediment to conservation. Wilson's eloquent
defense of nature, insights into our resistance
to environmental preservation, and praise of
scientific inquiry coalesce in a blueprint for a
renaissance in biology reminiscent of the
technological advances engendered by the space
race. Donna Seaman Copyright © American Library
Association. All rights reserved

Secular humanists are exalted / taken seriously
by the typical reader of publications like "The Nation", but nowhere else.

<http://www.nwi.org/ACE.html>Individuals, Liberty
and the Environment - The American Conservation
Ethic -- Environmental policies which emanate
from liberty are the most successful.
The American Conservation Ethic is grounded in
experience, science, wisdom and the enduring
values of a free people. It affirms that people
are the most important natural resource and that
we must be good stewards of the world around us
for this and future generations. It is founded
upon a deep respect for the wonder, beauty and
complexity of creation and is dedicated to the
wise use of nature's bounty. It reflects every
American's aspiration to make our environment
cleaner, healthier and safer for our future, and
it draws its strength from the most powerful
force for improving our environment ­ free people.
Our chosen environment is liberty, and liberty is
the central organizing principle of America. To
be consistent with our most cherished principle,
our environmental policies must be consistent
with liberty. Restricting liberty not only denies
Americans their chosen environment, but also constrains environmental progress.
Liberty has powerful environmental benefits.
Freedom unleashes forces most needed to make our
environment cleaner, healthier and safer for the
future. It fosters scientific inquiry,
technological innovation, entrepreneurship, rapid
information exchange, accuracy and flexibility.
Free people work to improve the environment, and
liberty is the energy behind environmental progress. .."

<http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/0521010683/ref=cm_cr_dp_2_1/103-1171916-7636635?%5Fencoding=UTF8&customer-reviews.sort%5Fby=-SubmissionDate&n=283155>The
Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real
State of the World by Bjorn Lomborg
Book reviewer bcn (Jack): "...Bjorn Lomborg, a
self-proclaimed leftist and former Greenpeace
member, set out to debunk what he believed were
the overly optimistic views of Julian Simon, who
claimed that the world was improving in every
quantifiable measure from air and water quality,
to availability of natural resources, to
longevity, to global warming. After years of
painstakingly analyzing current scientific data,
Lomborg was shocked to discover that Simon was
right after all and that the sky wasn't falling
as most environmentalists would have us believe. ..."
Book reviewer Herb West: "Our resources are
running out. The population is ever growing,
leaving less and less to eat. The air and the
water are becoming ever more polluted. The
planet's species are becoming extinct in vast
numbers. The forests are disappearing. Fish
stocks are collapsing and the coral reefs are
dying. Fertile topsoil is disappearing. We are
decimating the biosphere and will kill ourselves
in the process. This is what Lomborg calls the
Litany. The media has repeated the Litany so many
times that we accept it as fact. The purpose of
the Skeptical Environmentalist is to determine
whether the Litany's predictions of environmental
cataclysm are supported by the best available
scientific data. Lomborg's conclusion is that the
Litany is wrong, the environment is improving
rather than declining. ..." [Click link for more]
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/0521010683/ref=cm_cr_dp_2_1/103-1171916-7636635?%5Fencoding=UTF8&customer-reviews.sort%5Fby=-SubmissionDate&n=283155

~ Janice

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Received on Tue Sep 5 15:33:20 2006