Faith and belief in the age of freedom

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Faith and belief in the age of freedom (4/20/06)

Amongst the many wonders of the world one stands out: that people believe life so sacrosanct that abortions should never be permitted, even if the birth will be risky for the mother or child, and at the same time also believe the death penalty is a good idea. The gist of this wonder is that life is a miracle and should be defended at any and all costs, including if it means killing one person to save others. A noble sentiment, for sure, but I struggle with the miracle part because of a suspicion: life isn't nearly as special as we think it is. In fact, the planet is littered with it.

Of the trillions of living beings on the planet only a select few are of the highly ordered sort, destined to think and reason our way through life while consuming the lower castes, animals and plants alike, for food, clothing, and energy. The argument exists that humans are somehow special; that our abilities are unlike any before or since seen in another species. I've long doubted that but "proof", at least as much as I need, came from the literate Bonobos, tool using Orangutans, and seeing first hand how chickadees pull sentry and recon duty for one another. Behind closed doors people even mention the complexity of dolphin's language and how it is on par with our own. Remember to look for dolphin free tuna, won't you? That Simpson's episode may not be as far off as we'd care for it to be!

The argument takes on a new dimension, of sorts, with the announcements of water being found not just on Earth but on comets, Mars, and even Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons. Extraterrestrial planets are being found all over the place and soon too we will hear of the details of these places. I'll wager water and amino acids will be found since even comets, asteroids, and space dust seem to have them.

Life need not be sacred for all of us to feel safe. In fact I think we would do much better if life revealed itself to be what it is. Knowing the stakes, our instinct would be to draw around one another and help each other even more so, perhaps even realizing that prisoners, including those on death row, are more prisoners of nutritional deficiencies, toxic environments, and broken support systems than they are of the jails which do so little to treat these afflictions. Knowing the true stakes of life might be what it takes to get those things fixed, and doing so would help ensure unborn children never need be conceived, and death row inmates never embark on the paths that led to their crimes. Opinions of directions towards this utopia will surely differ, but the journey would be well worth it.

As for now and those who slip through the cracks, I remain thrilled I'm free to choose my God and live my life according to the ways I believe in. Such a system of government strikes me as the only way people can coexist, especially since experiments otherwise have failed so often in the past. Whether states choose to honor these rights is another matter, but certainly not a federal one when the chief concerns of the federal government are freedom and liberty for all. The same freedom that allows a person to believe in a religion that forbids abortion and encourages the death penalty also allows other people to believe differently. It is the freedom that allows these people to coexist, and it is their religions that place a premium on this, above all else.

Embracing such a system while believing in a religion stresses us. Let there be no doubt about that. It is the sort of situation altruism is made for, and it is largely why amazing things don't happen more often.