Theologians should hold summit on why God created oil
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050820/NEWS06/508200329/1023/NEWS
By RAY WADDLE
Opinion
The world's theologians need to get together and ponder a question: Why did God create oil?
The world's future depends on an answer.
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With the price of gasoline still rising, crude oil sloshes at the heart of the century's major religious/ethical issues — war, global warming, poverty, pluralism, consumerism, even evolution and the age of the earth.
Yet I've never heard a sermon about it. Religious leaders avoid the moral politics of fossil fuel the way most people and politicians do. Oil is something smelly that comes from Texas or Saudi Arabia or wherever — the less said, the better, as long as gas stations keep it flowing, preferably below $2 a gallon.
But the very existence of oil is a spiritual puzzle. It raises questions about the Almighty's intentions for the human race — and God's sense of humor or irony.
If the theologians would ever assemble for their oil summit, they might also ask:
• Why are two-thirds of the globe's proven oil reserves located in the world's tensest region, the Mideast? Is it God's way of spreading the wealth — the West gets technology, the dusty Middle East gets oil? Is the scramble for oil God's way of triggering apocalypse, or making sure Christianity and Islam keep interacting?
• Is fossil fuel a poison killing the earth, or a (one-time-only) gift from God to give us amazing breakthroughs in electronics, health care, travel and air-conditioned convenience? If it's a divine gift, how should we be using it? As fast as we can? Do we have a right to go to war for it?
• Is oil the decayed remains of vegetation and animals 300 million years old (as evolutionists say), or did God carefully place it in geologic formations 10,000 years ago (as some creationists say) at the beginning of Earth's life? Why did God put so much in Iraq and Iran, not Iowa and Idaho? (Five of the top six nations with the biggest proven oil reserves are Muslim. The exception is Canada.)
• If there's a divine reason for everything, what is God's human purpose for oil? What does the Almighty have in mind?
Nobody asks. In America, only a few states produce most of the oil, so most citizens know little about it, or they view it with distaste and hypocrisy. The result is feeble public policy and a chaos of competing attitudes:
"Carpool, conserve, cut back."
"America has a God-given right to all the world's oil."
"The oil companies are evil."
"We must shift to nuclear power, wind and solar."
"Drill Alaska."
"We must be Earth's good stewards."
"I'm buying another Hummer."
"Relax — God will inspire us to invent new, cleaner technologies and save the day."
"Let's change the subject."
What is the Iraq war about? National security. Democracy. And, though undiscussed, it's also about oil — stabilizing the Mideast for a reliable flow of oil to reassure the world economy and meet our deepening dependence on foreign fuel. The U.S. now imports more than 60% of its oil. In 1975, it was 33%.
Some experts argue there's more oil awaiting discovery all over the world. It'll be more expensive to extract, but at least most of it is outside the Middle East. This is good news if we want to continue the dazzling trajectory of the life we know, bad news if Earth collapses under a noxious burden of three more centuries of carbon emissions.
Others glumly predict that we'll be out of usable petroleum in another 100 years, after many decades of reckless consumption. The oil wars, now just beginning, will be exhausted by then. Earth might be a smoking ruin, but life will eventually quiet down again, looking like 1850, or 1050, way before the big oil reserves were discovered. People will walk to church again, not such a bad thing.
What will the survivors and witnesses, our grandchildren's grandchildren, think as they file in at worship in their brave new (or cold dark) world? Will they despise their ancestors — us — for it?
It's time for a "theology of oil" to rev up conservation, energize alternative energy research and inspire honest talk about reasons for war. Petro-theologians of the world, unite.
By RAY WADDLE
Opinion
The world's theologians need to get together and ponder a question: Why did God create oil?
The world's future depends on an answer.
OAS_AD('300x250_1');
With the price of gasoline still rising, crude oil sloshes at the heart of the century's major religious/ethical issues — war, global warming, poverty, pluralism, consumerism, even evolution and the age of the earth.
Yet I've never heard a sermon about it. Religious leaders avoid the moral politics of fossil fuel the way most people and politicians do. Oil is something smelly that comes from Texas or Saudi Arabia or wherever — the less said, the better, as long as gas stations keep it flowing, preferably below $2 a gallon.
But the very existence of oil is a spiritual puzzle. It raises questions about the Almighty's intentions for the human race — and God's sense of humor or irony.
If the theologians would ever assemble for their oil summit, they might also ask:
• Why are two-thirds of the globe's proven oil reserves located in the world's tensest region, the Mideast? Is it God's way of spreading the wealth — the West gets technology, the dusty Middle East gets oil? Is the scramble for oil God's way of triggering apocalypse, or making sure Christianity and Islam keep interacting?
• Is fossil fuel a poison killing the earth, or a (one-time-only) gift from God to give us amazing breakthroughs in electronics, health care, travel and air-conditioned convenience? If it's a divine gift, how should we be using it? As fast as we can? Do we have a right to go to war for it?
• Is oil the decayed remains of vegetation and animals 300 million years old (as evolutionists say), or did God carefully place it in geologic formations 10,000 years ago (as some creationists say) at the beginning of Earth's life? Why did God put so much in Iraq and Iran, not Iowa and Idaho? (Five of the top six nations with the biggest proven oil reserves are Muslim. The exception is Canada.)
• If there's a divine reason for everything, what is God's human purpose for oil? What does the Almighty have in mind?
Nobody asks. In America, only a few states produce most of the oil, so most citizens know little about it, or they view it with distaste and hypocrisy. The result is feeble public policy and a chaos of competing attitudes:
"Carpool, conserve, cut back."
"America has a God-given right to all the world's oil."
"The oil companies are evil."
"We must shift to nuclear power, wind and solar."
"Drill Alaska."
"We must be Earth's good stewards."
"I'm buying another Hummer."
"Relax — God will inspire us to invent new, cleaner technologies and save the day."
"Let's change the subject."
What is the Iraq war about? National security. Democracy. And, though undiscussed, it's also about oil — stabilizing the Mideast for a reliable flow of oil to reassure the world economy and meet our deepening dependence on foreign fuel. The U.S. now imports more than 60% of its oil. In 1975, it was 33%.
Some experts argue there's more oil awaiting discovery all over the world. It'll be more expensive to extract, but at least most of it is outside the Middle East. This is good news if we want to continue the dazzling trajectory of the life we know, bad news if Earth collapses under a noxious burden of three more centuries of carbon emissions.
Others glumly predict that we'll be out of usable petroleum in another 100 years, after many decades of reckless consumption. The oil wars, now just beginning, will be exhausted by then. Earth might be a smoking ruin, but life will eventually quiet down again, looking like 1850, or 1050, way before the big oil reserves were discovered. People will walk to church again, not such a bad thing.
What will the survivors and witnesses, our grandchildren's grandchildren, think as they file in at worship in their brave new (or cold dark) world? Will they despise their ancestors — us — for it?
It's time for a "theology of oil" to rev up conservation, energize alternative energy research and inspire honest talk about reasons for war. Petro-theologians of the world, unite.
posted by Marcel at 7:55 AM
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