Why are we burning the planet?

Atheist and Global Warming

One of the latest twitter post of Richard Dawkins pointed to the Pope declaration: "Pope blames atheists for global warming."

Beside the hilarious ridicule of this proposition, it really confused me. I'm utterly convinced that it is actually the opposite. The belief that a single God, created the Universe and "ultimately" mankind, allows our society to use earth and its resources without restraints.

If you believe that the Universe and Earth was created for the sole purpose of providing a living environment for Man ("Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." Genesis 1:28), than using and abusing Earth resources is a given right from the Creator!

Let's keep it simple

But, Ophir Radnitz answered me with a more pragmatic answer: "@freddy33 I think mankind's messing with the environment boils down to 2 preconditions: a) possible b) profitable."

Frankly, I should know to never underestimate the power of greed and stupidity :)
Still, I don't buy it!
Is simple greed, the only explanation for the destruction of our planet?

The Power of Religion

The good point of Ophir underestimate the power of Religion. Point "a) possible" is not so clear when it comes to religious belief. I have two examples in mind:

• Doing business on Sabbath or Sunday is "highly" profitable. A lot more than gold mining sometimes. Still it is hardly "possible" in many parts of the world.
• Prostitution is also a very profitable business. And still, it is not legal, and very risky business!

If one of the 10 commandments was:
You should respect Nature like you respect me!
instead of
To your offspring I will give this land! Genesis 12:7

I know for sure, the world will be very different.

The best example that comes to my mind are the way North American Indians respected mother nature. This strong connection and respect to Nature came from their religious beliefs. They were shocked by the way "white man" was using the land, the animals.

Greed or God?

So, may be, greed pushed us to used the Earth to its limits, but religion did not gave us the moral standard to protect our real creator: Nature, even worse, it encouraged us to abuse it!