Do you believe?

A number of people whom I know and respect are strong believers in a Christian God. Their God informs their ethical judgement and through their study of scriptures and reflection on the message of Jesus, they draw strength to live purposefully for the 'good' of those around them.

I also have the privilege to know some people who are strongly committed to the importance of scientific research which indicates a scary degree of global warming in the present and future and to the significance of our declining, or soon to be declining, access to oil. Their understanding of this research and the implications of it for our daily lives informs their actions, both large and small, and their sense of responsibility to minimise the effect of our lives on the environment at personal, community and global levels.

Much as it might horrify scientists who see no place for a God in their lives, I see many similarities in the two sets of beliefs. With food prices rising inexorably, adults everywhere are reigning their non-essential spending in and considering how to limit the damage of inflation on their food budgets. There is an understandable frustration on the part of peak oil enthusiasts that many people aren't seeing 'the bigger picture'. Which reminds me of the edict I've heard in Church that good works alone aren't enough. Faith is essential.

Both Christianity with it's notion of the Second Coming and Peak Oil seem to appeal to our fascination with apocalypses. Like watching gory movies where we don't want the horrible thing to happen but we watch, gripped, anyway.

Perhaps I'm a big softie with no stomach for the tough stuff. I believe in God as hope personified, as my guide, my strength to believe in the wisdom of working for change, for better lives, for redemption from sorrow. I have little time for the notion of a God of fear. I'm also a believer that we need to change our habits and become less wasteful, less reliant on commodities and cash and more connected to the growing of the foods we eat. If there is an apocalypse coming, (I can't help but think of when Dorothy got whisked out of her home in Kansas and dropped into the land of Oz in the musical), then we are wise to live carefully now. But if there is not an apocalypse coming, then I still think we are wise to live carefully now.