[Note from Rowland Croucher: I’m not usually one to query Martin Marty’s judgment on anything, but I wonder about his ‘Professor Frank Fenner is Australia ¢â‚¬â„¢s most illustrious scientist’… nevertheless, a very important article (as usual, from Marty)…]

*****

*Sightings* 6/28/10

Extinction

— Martin E. Marty

The blue sky above and the blue lake below my window helped inspire hopes on
a weekend morning for a beautiful, untroubled summer day. Then a jostling
alert and a son ¢â‚¬â„¢s apocalyptic posting linked me to an MSNBC item headed by
the question,  ¢â‚¬Å“Will humans go extinct within 100 years? ¢â‚¬  Do we yawn,  ¢â‚¬Å“We
hear that kind of question hourly from the *Left Behind* crowd, namely
Christians who, like their ancestors for almost twenty centuries, have
regularly prophesied, if not extinction of humans, then at least
annihilation of those who do not agree with their versions of biblical
prophecy ¢â‚¬ ? But the question posed on Thursday, June 24, had a certain
authority, alluding not to the prophecies of apocalypse-hungry Christians,
but to one from a scientist of note. Professor Frank Fenner is Australia ¢â‚¬â„¢s
most illustrious scientist, and a world-class figure. In the mid-twentieth
century he did the scientific work that helped control the number of rabbits
in Australia, thus saving the agricultural economy. He was also an
important figure in the elimination of smallpox, announcing the disease ¢â‚¬â„¢s
eradication before the World Health Assembly in 1980. So, we pay attention.

Five years ago at a conference in Canberra, Fenner posed a different, rather
more cheery question:  ¢â‚¬Å“Can Homo Sapiens Survive? ¢â‚¬  His talk was a call for
responsible human approaches to environmental threats and  ¢â‚¬Å“sustainability ¢â‚¬ 
hopes. This time, however, he is sure that  ¢â‚¬Å“homo sapiens will become
extinct, perhaps within 100 years. ¢â‚¬  Lest anyone expect even a hint of
cheer, he stresses,  ¢â‚¬Å“It ¢â‚¬â„¢s an irreversible situation. I think it ¢â‚¬â„¢s too late. ¢â‚¬ 
Yet the ethicist ¢â‚¬â„¢s voice within him cannot resist adding:  ¢â‚¬Å“I try not to
express that because people are trying to do something, but they keep
putting it off. ¢â‚¬  Population growth and climate change are so drastic that
the 95-year-old scientist can do little more than prophesy and  ¢â‚¬“ we suppose
he likes the human race  ¢â‚¬“ sit on a curb-stone and weep.

Needless to say, the publicity given his word by MSNBC will inspire
significant reaction from the Christians who do not give the
world-as-we-know-it so much as 100 years. Since they know that they are
assured a pleasant outcome in their apocalypse, they are happy that the end
will come soon. The rest of the human race has a choice of attitudes. Perhaps
this prophecy is just a sign that the 95-year-old is doddering? No. Perhaps
it ¢â‚¬â„¢s his way of getting attention for care-of-the-earth causes before it is
too late, even if he says it is too late.

I mentioned the physical beauty of this summer day, yet the news of the week
has done little to offer a psychological or spiritual match of such beauty.
Yes, the World Cup provided a distraction. Yet the disarray in the
prosecution of our various wars, the steadfast signs of reluctance by
elected officials to do much about climate control, the anti-government
attitude fostered by many in church and society  ¢â‚¬“ all lead one to take
Professor Fenner seriously. When such potential for gloom is on the
horizon, I think back to a panel I once shared with my teacher and later
Librarian of Congress Daniel Boorstin, when we panelists were told we were
not gloomy enough. This is not the first time his word made it into
*Sightings, *but it still lifts me:  ¢â‚¬Å“We do not know enough about the future to be absolutely pessimistic. ¢â‚¬ 

I call the alternative to pessimism  ¢â‚¬Å“realistic hope. ¢â‚¬  Recently the
 ¢â‚¬Å“realist ¢â‚¬  side clouds the  ¢â‚¬Å“hope, ¢â‚¬  but those who do not believe it ¢â‚¬â„¢s  ¢â‚¬Å“too
late ¢â‚¬  still have a chance.

*Reference*:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37902504/ns/technology_and_science-science/

Martin E. Marty’s biography, current projects, publications, and contact
information can be found at www.illuminos.com.

———-

This month’s Religion and Culture Web Forum features a chapter from literary
critic Amy Hungerford’s forthcoming volume Postmodern Belief: American
Literature and Religion Since 1960 (Princeton University Press, August,
2010). In “The Literary Practice of Belief,” Hungerford focuses upon two
contemporary literary examples–the novels of Marilynne Robinson and the
Left Behind series–in order “to engage (and revise) the current emphasis on
practice over belief in our understanding of religion.” With invited
responses from Thomas J. Ferraro (Duke University), Amy Frykholm (The
Christian Century), Constance Furey (Indiana University), Jeffrey J. Kripal
(Rice University), Caleb J. D. Maskell (Princeton University), Edward
Mendelson (Columbia University), Richard A. Rosengarten (University of
Chicago Divinity School), and Glenn W. Shuck (Williams College)..
http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/publications/webforum/index.shtml

———-

Sightings comes from the Martin Marty
Centerat the University of
Chicago Divinity School.

Attribution

Columns may be quoted or republished in full, with attribution to the author
of the column, *Sightings*, and the Martin Marty Center at the University of
Chicago Divinity School.

Shalom/Salaam/Pax! Rowland Croucher

http://jmm.org.au/

Justice for Dawn Rowan – http://dawnrowansaga.blogspot.com/