God and Gaia; or, the difference between a religion that serves man and one that serves Nature
Bookworm on Mar 15 2010 at 4:24 pm | Filed under: Religion
I went to church yesterday, as I periodically do when one of my children performs at a church service. Since I don’t take communion, I can sit in the pew and watch people as they file back from the experience. Some look businesslike, some contemplative, some uplifted and some, interestingly, look self-righteous. It’s the latter who interest me today. These are people who, at that precise moment in time, the moment of communion, feel that they are a better person than those who haven’t taken communion. Hold that thought, because I want to talk about other worshipers and self-righteousness.
There was an article last week about the fact that people who go green are more likely to cheat and steal. Thus, a couple of studies have shown that, while people who merely look at green products feel ethically inclined, people who finally commit to the extra expense and buy those same products suffered a huge moral decline:
Buying green products—some of the volunteers were given $25 to spend in the green store, while others were given $25 to spend in the conventional store—had an entirely different effect. Volunteers who bought up to $25 worth of ecofriendly stuff from the green store shared less money ($1.76) than those who purchased from the conventional store ($2.18). (Just to be clear, the volunteers were not given a choice about which online store to patronize.) For the green buyers, altruism in the dictator game decreased. More alarming, when the green buyers were then given a chance to cheat on a computer game, and lie about it to the scientists in order to win more money—basically, to steal—they did. Buyers of conventional products did not. And in an honor system in which they took money from an envelope to pay themselves their winnings, the green buyers stole six times more than the conventional buyers did.
“In line with the halo associated with green consumerism…people act more altruistically after mere exposure to green products,” Mazar and Zhong write in their upcoming paper. But they “act less altruistically and are more likely to cheat and steal after purchasing green products than after purchasing conventional products.” Or, as Mazar put it to me, “we are more likely to transgress morally after we have bought ourselves some moral offsets” (analogous to carbon offsets: buy enough so you can drive that Hummer). It was especially striking that the moral balancing occurred in an area of life—being generous with money, cheating on a computer game—that has nothing to do with green behavior. “This suggests that if we want to change people’s behavior for the better, we have to be sure it doesn’t backfire,” says Mazar—starting, perhaps, by eliminating the halo of self-congratulatory, smug virtuousness that surrounds green behavior.
I think Mazar and Zhong are a little too simplistic in blithely saying that people who engage in some self-righteous virtue think they’re buying the right to transgress. I suspect that the answer to greenies’ dishonesty lies in the nature of their faith, rather than in just buying green indulgences. I say this because I don’t believe the people who left church yesterday, bathed in the self-righteousness of communion, were more, rather than less, likely to steal or cheat. In fact, I believe the opposite is true: imbued with the word (and body) of God, I think they were more likely to treat their fellow man well.
And it’s that “fellow man” thing that makes the difference. Even though both Judaism and Christianity are deo-centric religions, the lessons that God imparts to man have little to do with how to treat God and much to do with how to treat ones fellow man. Look at the Ten Commandments in Exodus and you’ll realize that, but for the first few commandments regarding God’s supremacy and the prohibition against idol worship, they all deal with human-to-human interactions, rather than human-to-God:
I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery;
Do not have any other gods before me.
You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me,
but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.
Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
For six days you shall labour and do all your work.
But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.
For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it.
Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
As much as anything, the righteousness in God’s “big” rules derives from ethical and just behavior to ones fellow man. Think too of Jesus Christ’s Sermon on the Mount which, again, is rich with lessons about kindness from one person to another:
1And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:
2And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,
3Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
6Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Following the word of God, being bathed in self-righteousness, means treating ones fellow man well, not badly. Someone leaving church with the taste of communion wafer in his mouth is more likely to fill the beggar’s cup, than steal it.
Gaia-worship, by contrast, is devoid of any ethical rules regarding humans. Indeed, pure Gaia worship views humans as parasitical destroyers who, ideally, should be stamped out. The only moral code in Gaia worship is to reduce ones carbon footprint. Having purchased a green car, or detergent, or heating system, one gilds the Gaia lily by making a fellow-human less happy. After all, a less happy fellow human might be more willing to do away with himself (Gaia-purging?) or to stop having those damned carbon devouring children. The moral imperative, if there is one, is to make ones fellow man less, rather than more happy. A starving beggar might soon be a dead beggar, and that’s a good thing for Mother Earth.
By the way, I am 100% certain that 90% of Gaia worshipers do not have such explicit evil, genocidal thoughts about their fellow humans. (Although Bart Stupak’s comments about the ugly utilitarianism behind his fellow Democrats’ push for abortion funding — more abortions means cheaper health care — does give one pause.) I’m also certain, however, that these worshipers, buoyed by the heady feeling of virtue of being green, leave the green shrine at their local store, feeling not only powerful, but also unfettered by any anthropocentric morality. They have become green demigods and can act with impunity. Their fellow citizens, who are despoiling Gaia, do not deserve the demigod’s compassion. This is not a conscious thought; it is, instead, an unconscious absence of traditional morality that affects feelings and conduct.
I’ve always been a huge fan of traditional religion because, despite its overt deism, it is fundamentally anthropocentric. I find frightening the rise of a religion devoid of compassion, justice and morality.
I think I’ll leave the last word on compassion faith to Leigh Hunt’s Abou ben Adam:
Abou ben Adam (may his tribe increase!)
awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight of his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
an angel, writing in a book of of gold.
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adam bold,
And to the Prescence in the room he said:
“What writest thou?” The vision raised its head,
And, with a look made of all sweet accord,
Answered, “The names of those who love the Lord.”
“And is mine one?”said Abou, “Nay, not so,”
Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerily still, and said, “I pray thee, then,
Write me as one who loves his fellow men.”
The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night
It came again, with a great awakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blest,
And lo! Ben Adam’s name led all the rest.
Related posts:
- The perilous state of religion in England
- The difference between conservatives and liberals
- Don’t stop him; he serves a chance to kill again
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Elites of today favor coddling the criminal class. The elites, then, will deny the common people arms necessary for self defense. This is easy for the new aristocracy; they live in gated communities, with armed guards, and as far from criminal elements as possible. They will also deny the commoners the social good resulting from the putting to death of the wicked. The elites don’t suffer from this; their gated communities and their guards make them fairly immune to crime.
Are your public schools a ruin? Never mind; you and your children don’t count. Jobs gone? Electrical service spotty? Public transportation unreliable? News full of lies? Not to worry; the elites are well taken care of, behind their walls. And fear not for your elite, neo-aristocratic rulers’ children. Those children will attend good private schools even as the elites subject yours to a system that, imposed by foreigners, would be a crime against humanity, an act of war.
But then, the elites are foreigners; even if they—purely notionally—share your citizenship, they have renounced all of its meaning. And the people owe them nothing, not even their lives. They are at war with you. You should fight back.
Without mercy.-Tom Kratman
Any example of power without the sense of, and acceptance of, responsibility is doomed to disaster.
The elites separate themselves out in space from the ill effects of their ill-conceived programs and inane philosophies. They separate themselves socially and informationally from being reminded or informed. Thus, they award themselves power and influence without any concomitant responsibility. This, however, is not the only way that the separation of power and responsibility can occur.
As the elites separate themselves in space, so do the masses separate themselves in time, voting for the immediately good and pleasurable and leaving it to their heirs, should they have any, to pay the price. The people may vote themselves hefty pension and retiree medical programs from their governments. If they have neither the sense of responsibility to save on their own behalf, nor to bear and raise the children who will work on their behalf, such irresponsible schemes are doomed . . .
In no area is irresponsibility as likely to grow as in matters of sex. Elites, being irresponsible and especially sexually irresponsible, encourage this sort of irresponsibility on the part of the people . . .-Tom Kratman
I still recall what Isaac Asimov wrote about that poem.
He encountered it in grade school, and of course, at the end of the poem, the teacher asked the class why Abou ben Adam’s name led all the rest.
Asimov, being a smart-alec even at that time, raised his hand and suggested:
“Alphabetical order?”
Yet another visit to the Principal’s office.
The question should have been why his name was on it at all. Improper questions lead to improper answers. Yet humans cannot resist asking the wrong things and getting emotional when they get the answers.
I wonder, Book, if you have discovered the real underlying purpose of Obamacare:
To serve Gaia by reducing the birth rate through public funding of abortions, and to increase the mortality rate of the rest of us through rationed medical care.
Ms. Bookworm, the first part of your post shocked me a bit. Were you visiting our congregation, I sincerely hope that you would be just misinterpreting the expressions of some people. The idea that one is *better* than others because one received (not “took”!) communion would be anathema, for in the Lord’s Supper we believe God gives to the undeserving His gift of forgiveness. The only “worthiness” a person has is his or her trust in God’s promise that He freely grants forgiveness because of what Jesus has done.
Yet, in my heart of hearts, I know that you probably interpreted the expressions aright, for it happens even amongst Lutherans all too often. I’m sad for it, but would also thank you for your post and analysis, which isn’t too far off the mark. Gaia worship and self-worship aren’t that too different.
God bless!
Book,
I think that you are on to something here. It is interesting about the Ten commandments being weighted towards how to treat others.
Communion for the Christian can be seen as the assurance of God’s forgiveness, the length that He would go to redeem those who have broken fellowship with Him and want it back. It is the thing that say it’s OK now, like the feeling that your kids get when they realize that you love them just the same after they’ve blown it (ok, your neighbor’s kids, yours I suspect are perfect;) ). By partaking in the communion we are reminded of that last passover meal and we by God’s grace step into the humility of Christ.
Philippians 2
1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in very nature[a] God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the very nature[b] of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! 9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (New International Version)
This is the Christian’s example, we don’t always make such good imitators which is why communion is not like baptism done only once, it is the conscious decision to restore fellowship to become more like Him.
Grace and Peace,
MacG
Book, I’m confused. I know you’re a Jew who is agnostic, and I know that your husband is a left-wing atheist. So how the hell did you wind up in a church?
To reinforce what colorless.blue.ideas said, communion is a reminder, as in “do this for the remembrance of Me”. Taking communion reminds me of my commitments as a Christian and, if anything, reminds me that I still have a lot of work to do repairing myself and fulfilling my obligations to other in the week to come.
Charles asks a very good question, Book: I’ve got you pegged not as a believer but as a seeker knocking on the door. I am convinced that, when your questions have been answered, that door shall open and, with it, shall come all the wisdom and understanding you seek. It will be a powerful experience.
I am, in no way, surprised at the “green” influence in morality issues. I’ve seen it, and experienced it, on both sides of the political spectrum. For many, a behavior/belief is observed and judged “all good.” It may be “environmentalism,” or health care or “war…” even religion… but whatever the issue there will be an altruistic aspect that some people easily grasp and decide to hold. That decision, or those decisions, too often become(s) the raison d’etre for asserting oneself into another’s life.
I see that.
That is good.
We all should believe that.
Why don’t you? You should, here’s why.
You still don’t believe it? I must make you.
You are not good if you don’t believe.
It is always a surprise how quickly that progression is made regardless of the level of understanding of the basic observation. And once that progression is made, it is virtually impossible to have the believer return to their original observation to question their initial “That is good” belief. Despite the believers self-declaration that they understand the very complicated issue (and you don’t), after all they have special knowledge, the believers grasp of the issue, no matter what issue, is usually shockingly shallow. The fact that there are some who really do understand and still believe are the exception proving the rule.
Whether it’s Al Gore’s Global Warming religion, Code Pink’s peace religion, or just the self-righteous communicant, the effect is all the same. Mazar and Zhong may be a bit too simplistic, I think the same phenomenon applies to both those who worship God and Gaia. It is the ease with which the “morality” is transgressed… don’t think it makes much difference where the underlying “morality” comes from.
The holders of the “special knowledge” allow themselves more room for transgression simply because they know the rules better than the rest of us. The fact that morality comes from God does not immunize those believers from acting “immorally.” The closeted drunks and gamblers… the pedophile priests, are still transgressing… not treating their fellow man well.
Returning to my simplified progression, I think it is the speed one moves from observation to crusader that is the key. Something in some people allows them to proceed quickly through with no real understanding of the initial observation. I do agree that someplace in that phase, there is an element that is affected by God’s morality, but I’m not willing to make the leap to saying that without God’s moral code it is easier to mistreat fellow man. But then, as a believer, God’s moral code is simply a given… so I didn’t assume that the “greenies” in Mazar’s and Zhongs’ study were not God worshippers.
Again, my hypothesis is that, regardless of where ones’ underlying morality comes from, the willingness to proceed very rapidly from initial observation/exposure to zealous devotee is more likely to predict whether or not one will cheat. And while I enjoy the thought and discussion about God vs Gaia, I’m not willing to make it causative.
I tend to agree with Mazar and Zhong that there are those who use zealotry in one area to excuse failings in another. I do agree that, for some people, “Virtuous acts can license subsequent asocial and unethical behavior.” Believers in God’s morality are not immune. I suspect it’s more a power issue than a moral issue in the way one’s possession of ”special knowledge” is handled.
There’s a unique human behavioral control issue here. When people believe God has forgiven them it isn’t the same as if they believe that they themselves are responsible for their absolution. People behave differently when they believe a higher power has control than they do when they believe only they have control.
For one thing, insecurity happens when people who are not ready for it become thrust into positions where they have to take care of such things. God preserves a position where those that are lacking in leadership traits can off load their issues. When people believe that they themselves offer the path of faith, they become free to use their own judgment on right and wrong. Unfortunately, most human’s beliefs about right and wrong are completely self-destructive.
Charles (#7): Both my children perform in choral groups. Their choral groups are periodically asked to perform at church services. And where my kids go, I follow.
[...] Links To Visit – 03/16/10 Published in March 16th, 2010 Posted by TMH in 2nd Amendment, American Revolution, American Stuff, Constitution, Financial, Founding Fathers, History, Illegal Immigration, Military, Politics, Religion, Survival, Taxation, Terrorism Bookworm Room – God and Gaia; or, the difference between a religion that serves man and one that serves Nature [...]
I remember reading not too long ago about a study, or studies, someone had done that showed that people will only be so safe. I think it showed that every increase in safety manufacturered into a car was matched by an increase in reckless or careless behavior and so the number of deaths remained constant.
That’s the first thing I thought of when reading the first part of Book’s post: the Gaia-worshippers have only so much virtue and when they spend their virtue account on inanimate objects, it decreases the amount they have left over for other people. Christians and Jews, by contrast, are taught that they need to struggle constantly to be more virtuous; in effect, virtue is theoretically unlimited so spending something over here does not decrease what you can spend over there. Or, as Shakespeare put it, albeit on a different topic: “the more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite.”
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