Perry L. Gardner: Private Journal #28
Sunday, April 22, 1990
While Earth Day did create a lot of hoopla on the subject and got people’s attention, I’m afraid it didn’t get to the heart of things where changes must be made if the human cancer is not to destroy the biosphere. The Earth will survive it all, but will humankind and the life forms we are familiar with? And this brings me to my ultimate concern—the survival of human kind and their fellow creatures in a sustainable environment.
I have done some reading lately in The World, World Watch, and Building Economic Alternatives (from Coop America) that has led me to the place I am now, and the need for a new theology. (Incidentally, Owen Neil has reproduced some of these articles and placed them in our UUFH mailboxes—two minds with but a single thought.) I’m suggesting that the UUs are in an ideal position to develop this new theology. It fits with our Principles and Purposes, but so far we have but scratched the surface. “Ich Weiss nicht was soll es bedeuten das Ich so traurig bin.” [Translation: I don’t know what it means that I am so sad.] The only Deutsch that I remember, but it says what I’ve been feeling, and with this recent reading, it is all coming together more clearly. There is a glimmer of hope. I can start forming a vision of the future that might be better than that currently proposed.
Does theology follow economic paradigm or vice-versa? I see both in need of change. On the News after Earth Day, there was a spot on the picketing of Wall Street. Nowhere did I see the recognition that these “kooks” were on the right track, but it is good that I’m not alone in seeing where the problems lie. If our new theology is to be productive, it has to dialogue this economic theology that is driving the engines of destruction. Growth is a sacred cow, sustainability is the imperative. Free market is sacred, economic/social justice is the imperative.
It is time to study these systems and work towards new visions. There are many out there who are on this track, but the propaganda machines are in the hands of the enemy, and the people are misled. The path we are on leads to bad things, perhaps to destruction. It is time to find a new path!