Christopher Hitchens wrote a scathing article about Prince Charles on Slate (www.slate.msn.com). He attacked both the future monarch's character as well as his religiosity. I definitely agree that the Prince looks foolish, at least in this context, but many people hold similar views: that the destruction of the environment is connected to a mechanistic view of nature. Prince Charles referred to the source of this way of thinking as Galileo, but I think it goes way further, back to the Greek philosophical split between mind and body.
At the mention of Galileo, Hitchens unleashes a tirade on all that science has given us, including a disturbing reference to it 'putting us in our place'. Again, I agree that science has given us a lot in terms of advances and technology, as well as religion and spirituality being optional, rather than mandatory. What he fails to understand that there is room for both ways of thinking, for both paradigms to coexist. It's a mistake I often see: something has to be either/or, not both. It's a failure of imagination. Hitchens gets a bit rabid, and devolves into namecalling and denigrating anyone of faith. I think that's sloppy and disrespectful.
Of course, this is the author of "God is Not Great", so it's no surprise that these are his personal views. The problem is that he's not owning them. I see this a lot in communication: people make pronouncements instead of speaking from our own experience. It's as if our viewpoint isn't valid unless we assert that it is Reality. The drawback to this kind of communication is that it offers no room for the listener's perspective. I make a great effort to speak from my personal experience; I find that people hear me better, and I feel more understood. This is a way of building community, rather than building conflict. At the same time, it takes courage for us to talk about our own lives. But we can also invoke courage: feeling the fear and doing it anyway. May we all find the courage to speak openly, lovingly, and honestly with each other.
Alright, I have to admit that in reflecting on my own post, I use declamatory statements, too. I am not immune! It is a kind of essay writing which isn't exactly a personal voice. At the same time, I do think it's important to speak from our own experience, so I will be doing that in the future.
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