Crikey! That's a problematic faith
Growing up in the 90s and 2000s there was no shortage of peak popular science shows. You had Bill Nye, Kratts Creatures, and my personal favorite The Crocodile Hunter. Seeing Steve Irwin sprinting through the jungle, grabbing a snake, or wrestling a croc was my favorite thing to do after school. If you asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up the answer was always "marine biologist". Most kids go through their dinosaur and/or animals phase, but these peak era zoology shows spoke to me. Even spiritually.
One part of the Bible that always spoke to me was the mandate to care for God's creatures. This just made spiritual sense. Of course humans as God's hands in the feet should care for the world he left us with. This made me quickly resonate with the conservationist mentality. Steve showing us an endangered species that was being wiped off the map by our carelessness felt like a not only a moral failing of humanity, but a spiritual one. We were letting God down.
Later in high school with private Christian school "science" curriculum the cracks started to show. Instead of finding ways that our faith could interact with and protect the natural world in Christlike ways, I was often met with information directly contradicting what scientists on my favorite shows or in Popular Science Magazine (you best know I had a subscription) were saying. Lessons would directly contradict the best answers science was giving. You had to set aside science whenever it didn't line up with whatever the church has decided is acceptable. Science was safe until it didn't line up with some theological or culture war line in the sand. Electrical engineering? Safe. Evolution? Hell no. This was one of the first places where I felt the tug of the worldview I was being given not lining up with reality. Even worse it was choosing not to. I continued to try and find ways to stay the course. Hell I even wrote a paper at some point using Glenn Beck's “An Inconvenient Book” as my source for why climate change was definitely not human caused or an issue at all.
Something I think get’s overlooked in breaking down these para-church bubbles is how much of the abusive ideology is implicit not explicit. Did my parents or biology teacher straight up say, “Evolution is satanic and if you ever even think about believing it you’ll go straight to hell!”.. not really. It's through the information drip fed to you, the curriculum, the camps, the sermons, the looks of disgust. Sure there’s the outliers that are force feeding to everyone in ear shot, but for most it’s subtler. This problem is compounded by the system then endorsing and giving expert status to any scientist that will tow the line (i.e. Ken Ham and all the Ken Ham clones).
Looking back now my cognitive dissonance was so high. I knew the cracks where there, but looking at any of them to deeply could sending the whole thing crumbling down. To some extent that’s true. You can’t hold that worldview and take large swaths of reality seriously, but you can hold on to your faith. That’s the big lie. If you change or challenge you’ll lose God.
In the current cultural climate (see what I did there?) it may be difficult to imagine there is much hope. I’m right there with you often times it feels like there is much any of us can do and that if we do anything it doesn’t really matter. For example this essay has been sitting in my drafts for a few months now because recently I’ve felt like.. eh fuck it. I do, however, think there is hope we just have to shift out view and expectations. Hope can start small, like making smart sustainable choices for your family, teaching your kids about how the choices we make impact the environment around us, and having honest and open conversations with friends and family willing to listen and learn along with you. I’ve also recently become aware of a movement of young people still in Evangelicalism speaking out on issues of faith and climate change [Young Evangelicals for Climate Action]. As someone who at the end of the day thinks the trend of humanity is moving in a positive direction over time I hope we as humans and people of faith can help shift the western Christian views away from protecting the destructors and towards protecting creation.
Thanks for reading y’all! I know it’s been awhile. I don’t have anything super fun to throw down here this time but I will toss in a couple reading recommendations to keep the science and climate vibes rolling. I’m linking the Amazon listings but definitely try and order/purchase through a local bookstore or use your library card.
Disposable City - Mario Alejandro Ariza
A look at the climate future of Miami that does an amazing job of breaking down the history and culture surrounding it. Depressing but a must read.
How Far the Light Reaches - Sabrina Imbler
This book uses a series of essays about the study, discovery, and lives of deep sea creatures to contrast and bring to light aspects of the queer experience. Super interesting read and all the marine biology tickled my Steve Irwin loving brain.
The Great Displacement - Jake Bittle
I am just now starting this one! So this a read it along with me and I can already tell it’s going to be good.
Thanks again everyone! May you be happy, may you be healthy, may you be at peace.