Is It Too Late?: A Theology of Ecology Page: 68
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IS IT TOO LATE? A THEOLOGY OF ECOLOGY
it human personality as it actually exists that is sacred? Or are we to commit
ourselves to the realization of a potential that has not yet been actualized?
Important practical consequences follow from the answers to these questions.
Some answers indicate that the unlimited multiplication of human life is desirable,
regardless of the problems which that creates. Other answers indicate that the
realization of the human essence or potential is far more important than the
multiplication of individuals. But no matter how the questions are answered,
serious difficulties arise. The critical rationality that humanists have directed
against traditional religions plays havoc with humanism as well. Its arbitrary
elements become more and more apparent, and as this occurs, its power to elicit
commitment declines.
The operation of critical reason on humanist pretensions leads to secular
atheism. For secular atheism nothing is sacred, or ultimate, or absolute. Hence,
there are no basic commitments, only provisional ones. Everything is seen as
means to ends which are themselves judged by their contributions to further ends.
All belief in the sacred is perceived as a threat to the needed pragmatic rationality.
Strong people can recognize the relativity of all values. They do not need to
believe that actions have ultimate importance in order to take them. They can
establish their own norms and live effectively by them without the illusion that
they have a higher sanction. Indeed, by removing all such sanctions, they believe
that they can have greater freedom and greater tolerance of the freedom of others.
Even if there is some pain in the loss of the sacred, they prefer to live freely and
without illusion rather than to submit again to authority.
Secular atheism has two conflicting tendencies in relation to the nonhuman
world. On the one hand, since it denies the sacredness of human personality, it
deflates human pretensions to distinctiveness and thinks of human beings as much
more like the other animals. On the other hand, it subscribes to the thoroughly
anthropocentric philosophies of empiricism and positivism. Furthermore, the
recognition of kinship between humans and the other animals tends rather to
disparage the worth of humans than to encourage concern for other living things.
Secular atheism is closely associated with the technological attitude and tends to
apply it even to the treatment of human beings.
Humanism gains its power by freeing us from the shackles of superstition and
displays its weakness when required to stand on its own feet. Similarly, secular
atheism gains its power by its clear-sighted critique of both traditional religion and
humanism and finds that it has little to offer in itself. On many university
campuses it no longer plays the role of rebel; for it is now established as academic
orthodoxy. At this point its barrenness and emptiness become apparent. It has little
to say on the important issues of life. It hides its nakedness in specializations of
questionable usefulness. It claims freedom from all absolutes, but it has no ends
toward which to use its freedom. It turns away from the interior life and treats all
things, including human beings, as objects. The objectivity it achieves belongs to
death rather than life.68
Cobb
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Cobb, John B., Jr. Is It Too Late?: A Theology of Ecology, book, 1995; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc52175/m1/70/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Center For Environmental Philosophy.