Well and truly said. I will reply that we also need very much to be aware of how little credibility churches and other key institutions currently have among most people today. The same lying and betrayal that is knit into the corrupt fabric of our civilization is knit into our churches and religious organizations. The very same “bright green lies” that have gotten our species well into a rapid anthropogenic extinction event are shared by most of the churches and academic institutions that are associated with them. We need more than ever church leaders who are willing to model true repentance and reconciliation with our shredded more-than-human beloved community as well as within our human family. We need to move from tyranny to tenderness, and from the fortress of Modernity to the vulnerability of being humbled -literally brought into close and intimate relationship with earth.
The earth has been inviting us into the Kin-dom of Heaven, but we have been busy imposing our own ecocidal and genocidal order in place of the Kin-dom that Jesus himself was pointing to all along. The crisis is cosmic rather than bounded by the narrow echo chambers of the neoliberal institutions that simply make the crisis worse.
Look around and see who is not in conversation with you. Note which humans are excluded. Note the lowly species which are vital to life on earth that are being killed off with complete indifference. The more-than-human beloved community is excluded by our religion and religious institutions.
Vine Deloria Jr said that “religion is for those who are afraid of Hell, wile spirituality is for those who have been there.” What most white people do not understand has also been repeated by numerous Native American - see Stan Rushworth, or check our Nicke Estes “our History is the Future”. White “Christians” genocided the Native American people alongside the forests and the buffalo and many other creatures. That genocide is ongoing around the world.
So we have sent so many people and species to Hell in that way, and now we are ourselves afraid to face the Hell we have created. The Hell we have inflicted is the place we are afraid of dwelling in for ourselves.
Do you understand now? “Our History is the Future.”
We are being rewilded.
The Metacrisis is our spiritual teacher.
Most churches and religious leaders do not even see that they themselves are a very big part of the problem, and not even close to being part of the solution.
Very few religious leaders are aware that they themselves need to repent.
Therefore we will not see any change.
I have been leading studies on “living into the rapid anthropogenic extinction event with love, purpose and compassion. I have for the past few months also been leading studies based on Brian McLaren’s “Life After Doom”.
One thing I have discovered is how frightened and angry many very smart, caring young people are. Especially those with young children.
They know that they have absolutely been betrayed by the very institutions that ought to make a way for life.
I know young people who look at their toddlers and guess that those children will not see the age of 20.
These are smart, well-educated working people who have come to realize that not only were they never included in a plan for the future, but the future has been depleted of the great wealth of the living biosphere in exchange for a burden of spiritual, relational, and physical toxins.
I also recommend “Generation Dread” by Britt Wray. She herself is a young mother and works out of the Department of Psychiatry at Stanford Medicine. She is deeply aware that our problem is not technological or scientific, but rather is spiritual.
The world has already ended.
We are already absolutely vulnerable.
The future is here, but not yet evenly distributed.
Churches are completely unprepared for the deluge.
If your theology does not include the reality that we are living into a rapid anthropogenic extinction event, then you are creating a theology that denies the central issue of our day. Such theology is no theology at all.
Our churches and academics have been specializing in such denial for a very long time.
I see very little indication that Christian, religious and academic leaders will change at all. It looks like they will continue to pretend that they are not part of an ecocidal, genocidal civilization.
Brian McLaren did bravely tiptoe up to the line of talking about reality with “Life After Doom”.
I recommend more of us start talking about that reality.
Re “the Art of Wilding”. Like many proud citizens of the NOT 51st state will not be making any trips down below the 49th parallel for the forseeable future. However am sure there are plenty of available locations up here.🇨🇦 Come up and join us here!
Ezra Klein.
Well and truly said. I will reply that we also need very much to be aware of how little credibility churches and other key institutions currently have among most people today. The same lying and betrayal that is knit into the corrupt fabric of our civilization is knit into our churches and religious organizations. The very same “bright green lies” that have gotten our species well into a rapid anthropogenic extinction event are shared by most of the churches and academic institutions that are associated with them. We need more than ever church leaders who are willing to model true repentance and reconciliation with our shredded more-than-human beloved community as well as within our human family. We need to move from tyranny to tenderness, and from the fortress of Modernity to the vulnerability of being humbled -literally brought into close and intimate relationship with earth.
The earth has been inviting us into the Kin-dom of Heaven, but we have been busy imposing our own ecocidal and genocidal order in place of the Kin-dom that Jesus himself was pointing to all along. The crisis is cosmic rather than bounded by the narrow echo chambers of the neoliberal institutions that simply make the crisis worse.
Look around and see who is not in conversation with you. Note which humans are excluded. Note the lowly species which are vital to life on earth that are being killed off with complete indifference. The more-than-human beloved community is excluded by our religion and religious institutions.
Vine Deloria Jr said that “religion is for those who are afraid of Hell, wile spirituality is for those who have been there.” What most white people do not understand has also been repeated by numerous Native American - see Stan Rushworth, or check our Nicke Estes “our History is the Future”. White “Christians” genocided the Native American people alongside the forests and the buffalo and many other creatures. That genocide is ongoing around the world.
So we have sent so many people and species to Hell in that way, and now we are ourselves afraid to face the Hell we have created. The Hell we have inflicted is the place we are afraid of dwelling in for ourselves.
Do you understand now? “Our History is the Future.”
We are being rewilded.
The Metacrisis is our spiritual teacher.
Most churches and religious leaders do not even see that they themselves are a very big part of the problem, and not even close to being part of the solution.
Very few religious leaders are aware that they themselves need to repent.
Therefore we will not see any change.
I have been leading studies on “living into the rapid anthropogenic extinction event with love, purpose and compassion. I have for the past few months also been leading studies based on Brian McLaren’s “Life After Doom”.
One thing I have discovered is how frightened and angry many very smart, caring young people are. Especially those with young children.
They know that they have absolutely been betrayed by the very institutions that ought to make a way for life.
I know young people who look at their toddlers and guess that those children will not see the age of 20.
These are smart, well-educated working people who have come to realize that not only were they never included in a plan for the future, but the future has been depleted of the great wealth of the living biosphere in exchange for a burden of spiritual, relational, and physical toxins.
I also recommend “Generation Dread” by Britt Wray. She herself is a young mother and works out of the Department of Psychiatry at Stanford Medicine. She is deeply aware that our problem is not technological or scientific, but rather is spiritual.
The world has already ended.
We are already absolutely vulnerable.
The future is here, but not yet evenly distributed.
Churches are completely unprepared for the deluge.
If your theology does not include the reality that we are living into a rapid anthropogenic extinction event, then you are creating a theology that denies the central issue of our day. Such theology is no theology at all.
Our churches and academics have been specializing in such denial for a very long time.
I see very little indication that Christian, religious and academic leaders will change at all. It looks like they will continue to pretend that they are not part of an ecocidal, genocidal civilization.
Brian McLaren did bravely tiptoe up to the line of talking about reality with “Life After Doom”.
I recommend more of us start talking about that reality.
Re “the Art of Wilding”. Like many proud citizens of the NOT 51st state will not be making any trips down below the 49th parallel for the forseeable future. However am sure there are plenty of available locations up here.🇨🇦 Come up and join us here!