Another provocative essay from my ‘atheistic’ Episcopalian friend…

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Retire Dominion

Harry T. Cook

1/02/09

Those who most oppose human initiative to correct human-generated climate anomalies find their theological backup in biblical fundamentalism, which takes seriously the Genesis text depicting the gods (elohim) telling the primal couple that they are being given dominion over Earth and all its life forms. The Industrial Revolution must certainly be the fullest expression of human dominion after the manner of the Vandals and the Huns. Moreover, biblical fundamentalists will be glad to tell you that the degradation of Earth’s atmosphere and waters doesn’t really matter, since the prophets foretold the end of the world, which, behold, is near at hand. Oh, OK.

My favorite exponent of all that is the ecological expert, Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., who insists that the idea of human-caused global warming is a political and scientific hoax. Ergo, Inhofe says, let the exercise of human dominion over Earth proceed apace. “Dominion” is a dangerous word related as it is to a Latin term for deity or supreme authority. Toni Morrison, in her new novel, “A Mercy,” seemed to have sensed that danger as she wrote that exploitation of any kind is tragic because “to be given dominion over another is a hard thing; to wrest dominion over another is a wrong thing” and “to give dominion of yourself to another is a wicked thing.” That about covers it. Don’t accept dominion; don’t take it by force; don’t give it.

Clutching to themselves a perceived dominion over the biosphere is what white Europeans and Americans have been doing for almost 200 years as they have built and operated their smoke-belching factories and power plants, not to mention their deforestation of great swaths of the North American continent. They wrested dominion in their forced removal or outright eradication of the continent’s Native American inhabitants. In a circular route to justification, they gave dominion over themselves to a rigid theistic fundamentalism that, ex post facto, redeemed and baptized their statutory rape of the planet and a people.

“Wicked” is Morrison’s word for giving dominion over oneself to another — meaning, I think, that it is the worst thing you can do. It is not unlike submitting to a Hitler-ite dictatorship or letting oneself be subsumed in a context that obliterates moral cognizance and the informed choices that it produces. In that regard, theism — the belief in an objective deity that is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresence — when coupled with an absolutist acceptance of a set of texts attributed to that deity is “a wicked thing,” as Morrison would say. Theism is what allows people to shrug their shoulders and say of a Katrina or some other catastrophe that “it must be the will of God.” “It says so in the Bible” is what such believers offer as an explanation for what rational people see as disaster. To shift responsibility for global warming and its all-too-obvious consequences of climate change to an unseen deity whose existence is merely an illusion is about as wicked as it gets.

So here’s to the retirement of “dominion” from our vocabulary. Toni Morrison is right: Dominion is dangerous to have, to seize or to give. What might well take its place in a civilized world would be a kind of mutual interdependence in which the urge to dominate gives way to a mediated covenant of power shared as responsibility. The predictable results of such an arrangement would include a less polluted planet, a moderation of unbridled capitalism and a more merciful approach to dealing with poverty at home and abroad. READERS WRITE [re essay of 12/28/08 Coming to the End of 2008]: Ken Johnson, Travelers Rest, SC I just finished reading your weekly essay. I found it immensely interesting, thought provoking and right on target. George Williams, Gainesville, FL Although you plan to retire from the active ministry in March, I hope that you will continue to e-publish your essays. Not enough, already. Ed. Note: Weekly essays will be published as at present post-March 31. The weekly sermons will take a new form and will be published on the Monday before the Sunday they would ordinarily be delivered.

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 © Copyright 2008, Harry T. Cook. All rights reserved. This article may not be used or reproduced without proper credit.