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| Letters
The Human Footprint I was horrified
to read the author's advice on how to erase the human footprint.
(Summer 2002) Did he pay any attention to logic and Oberlin-style
rhetoric? In the memorable words of a Fred Small song, "Don't
blame the children." THEY aren't the problem, and merely
cutting down the number we have will do nothing to solve consumption
problems. The typical American family (with few children) consumes
more than a large, starving family in Africa. I'm not a statistician,
but it seems logical that merely to replace our current population
we need to have two children per family, but this assumes everyone
has children and there are no accidental deaths. Ask the victims
of any number of tragedies: accidental deaths happen. And there
are people who don't have children (for any number of reasons).
You're not proposing limiting the damage we humans cause.
You're proposing either genocide or species-wide suicide.
You don't want to erase the footprint, you want to obliterate
the beings who made it. Surely this is inconsistent with valuing
biodiversity, human and civil rights, among other things. I was
disappointed and offended by Professor Carl McDaniel's article
in the OAM entitled "Paradise for Sale." It contains
a thinly veiled attack on religious belief, which Professor McDaniel
dismisses as "demonstrably false," "naive,"
and a "fantasy worlds estranged from biological and physical
reality." Furthermore, Professor McDaniel expresses the hope
that what happens "in a home, school, or place of work"
holds hope for preventing another "mass extinction of life"
for which we humans are responsible. It is sad, and offensive, that
he makes no mention of the role religious institutions might play
in preventing such an extinction of human life. Professor McDaniel
needs to develop an appreciation of the role of religion in nurturing
respect and care for the earth. He needs to see that religious faith
can come to the aid of his cause! For example, the Biblical tradition
speaks of the world as a garden lovingly created and ordered by
God. And it tells us that the "earth is the Lord's"
and is therefore not to be despoiled by careless humans. At the
end of his article, Professor McDaniel lauds Oberlin's "traditional
concerns of equity, fairness, social justice, and respect for diversity"
as utterly essential to overcoming environmental destruction. Professor
McDaniel would be rewarded by studying Oberlin's early history.
He would learn that Oberlin's passion for "equity, fairness,
social justice, and respect for diversity" was born of the
passionate evangelical, Biblical faith of Oberlin's founders.
Professor McDaniel, like so many others, have conveniently forgotten
the religious roots of Oberlin's heritage, which has alienated
me greatly from the College in recent years. |
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