This is going to be a fascinating documentary:
If you are not reading Wesley Smith’s blog Human Exceptionalism, you should be.
This clip reminds me of Wesley’s quote on Starbucks cup The Way I See It #127 (which sits on my desk holding a variety of writing implements):
The morality of the 21st century will depend on how we respond to this simple but profound question: Does every human life have equal moral value simply and merely because it is human? Answer yes, and we have a chance of achieving universal human rights. Answer no, and it means that we are merely another animal in the forest.
Wesley is completely correct. If we do accept that humans are “just
another animal in the forest” then we will behave as animals with all
the dog-eat-dog savagery found in nature.
I assure you that no other animal is concerned with the extinction of another species. Maybe, just maybe, humans fret about the disappearance of other species and spend time and money to prevent such an occurrence because we were created to be stewards of nature.
If we are just a culmination of random mutations fighting for survival in a battle of genetic fitness, then why do we care?
I find it interesting that both radical environmentalism and transhumanism suffer from the same pathology: man is inherently bad and irredeemable. They propose different solutions. The radical environmentalist says we need to become extinct; the transhumanist insists we need to radically transform ourselves into the “posthuman.”
In one essay, transhumanist Ronald Bailey called natural, unenhanced man “incompetent,” “unproductive,” “stupid,” “disease-ridden,” and “unstable.”
Humans are bad. Either die out or change so as to no longer be human.
Contrast that to the Christian message: Sure we are flawed but God loves you. He created you in His image. Through Him you can be whole. No need to kill yourself or change your genetic make-up.
One guess as to which philosophy will actually make a kinder and gentler world.
Rebecca Taylor blogs at Mary Meets Dolly
October 18, 2013 at 9:00 pm
Your last line made me think of what should happen versus what actually happens. The most violent wins. Christianity is preached and the word spread. Islam spreads by murdering anything in its path. Actually Islam reminds me of the helmeted locusts in revelations, chanting and consuming all in their path as they mindlessly destroy all beauty. Anyways…yes, what you say, although oversimplified is that Gods way is the only way to life. All other paths lead to death.
October 18, 2013 at 9:00 pm
This wonderful effort is coming from the Center for Science and Culture at the Discovery Institute, a conservative Christian think tank. The ground breaking "Demographic Winter" and "Demographic Bomb" documentaries originated with a Mormon associated group. "Expelled" was a superb apologetic for the existence of a Creator-God and the real danger of Darwinian 'social evolution' by a faithful Jew, Ben Stein.
Where is the leadership from the Church in producing such apologetic works?
October 18, 2013 at 9:49 pm
@Brian http://www.ignatius.com/promotions/cosmic-origins/ is one.
October 19, 2013 at 12:41 am
I note that there is an image of an owl in the promo. Recall that spotted owl protections in Oregon first required that logging cease, and now require that barred owls be shot.
If humans are just another animal in the forest, they are a very horrible animal.
October 19, 2013 at 6:15 pm
Dogs do not write music. Dogs do not kill for sport. Dogs do not and cannot conceive of time-space, cannot imagine or plan ahead on their own only the instinct of the pack. The individual sovereign person enjoys freedom and unique individuality. This not to say wantonness or recklessness, but the right to do as one ought to do. The animal does not recognize freedom. So, if man cannot recognize his freedom he may become the race of sub-humans the totalitarians are hoping and praying for…
October 21, 2013 at 6:05 am
It's interesting that the fruit of secular humanism is profoundly anti-human, and the staunchest "humanists" these days are Christians.