Christians, Prove Your God Is Good

[The Reality Salesman01]

Historically speaking, extinction seems to be the way of life, why buck the system? Burn more coal! Dump radioactive waste in the ocean! Develop more and more genetic variations of diseases that we can use for biological warfare! It's only natural...

That is pretty disappointing. Is that the veiled expression of an old, naive theist chestnut? You know, the one that assumes atheists, having turned down the bible's goodness are now morally rudderless. Since all we see is the workings of nature where you prefer to see the hand of god, what reason would we have to object to the continued practices of humanity even if it hastens our own extinction?

But what is natural is not what we exalt, it is merely what we suppose. As with the invention of vaccines we don't always except what is natural. The correct opposite of natural is man made, not supernatural. Morality comes from the reflected upon moral responses of human beings, and probably by degree in any number of other mammals, birds and other creatures. But that which we are in a position to do something about is our own moral impulses.

But if it makes you useful you just keep praying to god. The people you think have no morality will be busy doing what can be done to the degree that it can be done.

On that note,
why wear sunscreen to the beach?
or corrective lenses while reading?
Why wear different shoes on a hiking trip?

It seems obvious that we are a species that has been fortunate enough to evolve in such a way as to have some impact on the order of things. We have the power to make improvements, and with that power comes the responsibility to do so. A little empathy is all that is needed to move from environmental actions of improvement to moral ones. Recognizing that the universe has a natural order that can be cruel and inhospitable is one thing, but our ability to recognize the flaws is exactly what motivates us to overcome them. If the question is "why not just do as the rest of the universe does?", the answer can be as simple as "because clearly, there is something unique about our ability to recognize that it's fraught with flaws, and when one knows better, they possess the ability to do better"

Hence...sunscreen!