Attenborough On Darwin

Last Sunday, I was settled down ready to watch a programme on Charles Darwin presented by David Attenborough. Not ten minutes into the broadcast, the telephone rings. I let it ring as the answering service would pick it up. Then again and again, on the forth occasion I answered. As my telephone is upstairs, a fluke of where the phone line comes in and I still have old style handsets; I had to go up to answer. Now I assumed that it had to be important as anyone that really knows me would know that I was likely to be watching the Darwin programme, well it was not urgent and in fact it was rather trivial. It was someone of my acquaintance calling to take the Mickey out of the fact that they had just heard I had been seen with Glasses and now I would not keep on seeing wildlife that they doubted was there.

Well I am not normally rude on the telephone nor do I normally swear, but I told this individual where to go and that he was not to disturb me again. It is not that I have had a sense of humour bypass, but I really dislike the way that the telephone can intrude into your life at times. If that makes me a grumpy old man then so be it. There are times when people just seem to think they can impinge on your time when it suites them.

Well I will get off my soap box on that, but it did mean that instead of being able to sit down and watch the programme uninterrupted, I could not focus as I wanted. Also I may have missed important parts. However, what was a revelation for me was that it became clear that Sir David is not a believer in god.

Personally I do not believe in god, any god, as while I do have the wonder of nature and the natural world, I cannot see any proof of the existence of a god or higher power. While I know that saying this may upset a reader or two (Bugger that’s both of them gone), I have always tried to respect other peoples beliefs. That said, when it comes to science and especially natural history and the natural environment, I frequently find that religious belief clouds peoples prospective, and prevents folks from seeing the reality of life.

From an environmental prospective, the biblical claim that god gave humans dominion over the life on The Earth, has lead to a lack of respect for the natural world. It also lead to the slave trade, as because Africans were seen as a lower species, the biblical claim of dominion was used to justify this abuse. Equally, this doctrine is used to justify the environmentally disastrous practice of “Mountain Topping” as a means of extracting coal, or the callous practices of low welfare industrial farming.

When Darwin realised that life on our planet was the result of a natural process, of evolution he also realised that it was also proof that god was a human construct. While he (Charles Darwin) did not talk about his beliefs, he did stop attending church.

While I understand that as a non believer in any “Supernatural” higher power I am possibly in a minority. However, I genuinely try to be respectful of other people’s beliefs. But it is difficult as so often “God” or “Religion” is used to justify so many actions that can only be described as Evil.

This disrespect of other people just on the basis of their spiritual beliefs has fuelled so many wars, and I genuinely can never understand any doctrine that allows or accepts violence. Also while I know that there are a few religious leaders that do talk about respecting “God’s Creation”, when I see environmental destruction justified by reference to the Bible or other religious texts, then I find it really difficult to respect those people. If religious leaders, of all faiths, were preaching real love, respect and caring for people then my respect for all religions would rise. Equally they need to show leadership on protecting and conserving the environment.

Perhaps if more care was taken over making this world a better place, rather than worrying about some mythical afterlife, we would not be in the environmental state we are in now.

I got to see the programme today, uninterrupted.

An interesting link