Yahweh and the Cosmic Egg

Yahweh continues to be the primary god for North America, and recently I've learned a lot more about Him. He doesn't like gay people and He doesn't like women ending their pregnancies, even though it's an ancient practice. He doesn't like Harry Potter, Starbucks holiday cups, yoga, and some new TV show on Amazon Prime called Good Omens. When I was a teenager and attending a fundamentalist Baptist church, I also learned that Yahweh didn't like guys with long hair, rock music, and jeans.

One thing that I do know about Yahweh is that he's a locally grown god that was invented by men (sorry ladies) during the Bronze Age in the land of Canaan. He was the official god of the Kingdom of Israel and later the Kingdom of Judah. He was worshipped not only by the Israelites, but also by other people in the area, including the Edomites, Kenites, Moabites, and Midianites.

Some scholars believe Yahweh is a spinoff from Canaanite religion, which had El as their supreme  god. At the time Yahweh was a sub god in charge of metallurgy. Following the Babylonian captivity era of the 6th century BCE, Yahweh was formalized and canonized into the Hebrew god we know today.

During the Second Temple Period (515 BCE - 70 CE) Yahweh decided to have a son, so he inseminated a young Jewish woman, which was likely quite a shock to her. She had a cute little baby boy named Jesus and thus began the Jewish splinter group called Christianity. Later, Yahweh became Allah and became the foundation of the Muslim faith.

In my last post I said that Yahweh was influenced by the Babylonians, who had their own top god named Marduk. In turn, the Babylonian religion was strongly influenced by the earlier Sumerians. Now, throw in a little influence from the Assyrians and Egyptians, and you have Jehovah, the one true, correct, real, proper God that American evangelicals worship today.

The Cosmic Egg

To summarize, the official, correct god Yahweh was not invented by goat herders in 3,500 BCE, as I said in earlier blog posts. More likely, he was made up by copper miners in the Timna Valley of southern Israel.

Now, if you want a more interesting story let me tell you about the Cosmic Egg, which for some unknown reason exploded 13.8 billion years ago and created the Universe. Yep, I'm talking about the Big Bang Theory.

The whole point of my blog post today is to tell you that the Universe has gone from a single electron hydrogen atom to the extremely complex living organism known as a human. So, if you are not really into the Hebrew copper miner god and are looking for something new to worship, it may as well be the hydrogen atom.

The real god is also gravity and heat, and the story of how supernova explosions and red giants turned hydrogen and helium into heavy metals. Our Earth is the product of dust from three previous stars and without iron and other heavy metals we wouldn't have a planet and we wouldn't have life.

Abiogenesis

The Solar System and planets are believed to have formed from a cloud of dust, with the Sun at the center. Not too long after the Earth was formed, life began to appear in very basic forms. Now, to clarify, the creation of life is called abiogenesis, and is not related to evolution. Secondly, I've heard creationists say that creating the first cell would be like dropping a bunch of parts from the air and have it all come together as a fully assembled B-747. This is nonsense because ancient cells were nothing like the sophisticated cells of today — they started out simple and then grew in complexity.

For life to form on Earth I believe we needed heat, provided by the sun and the cooling Earth core, and movement, provided by the gravitational pull of the moon. We also needed nucleobases and amino acids, which were provided in part by meteorites. How organic compounds ended up on meteorites freaks me out a little, but electrical discharges seem to have played a role.

As the Earth was peppered by organic compounds in meteorites it was only a matter of time before more life-like structures began to emerge. The first pre-life forms of gook had no complex protein machinery but rather simple fatty acids. Under a range of acidity (pH) they began to spontaneously form stable vesicles that were permeable to small organic molecules. Once the vesicles encountered the free fatty acids the life functions of eating and growth began. Slowly, a living cell began cranking up. Once a vesicle was broken off, likely by waves caused by the moon's gravitational pull, then you have a basic form of reproduction. Holy cow, the tough part was getting genetic code to emerge. But in the pre-life environment there were hundreds of types of different nucleotides, such as DNA and RNA, floating around. It may have been a trillion to one odds, but somehow, somewhere one drop of gook self polymerized, which paved the way for a modern cell. Recent experiments show that spontaneous polymerization is possible, such as in the creation of of Phosphoramidate DNA. Once polymerization occurs, it's possible to create new templates or extend existing templates. Now, we are just one tiny step away from life.

Having assembled all the things mentioned above, the goop floats in the ocean and perhaps gets caught in a hydrothermal vent, so now you have the movement of the current and heat. All these factors increases the sub-cell membrane's permeability to monomers. As the temperature cools, spontaneous polymerization can occur, and the cycle repeats. This starts an engine, using basic thermodynamics, where lipids are "stolen" from a vesicle with less polymer. This cycle begins evolution because the little bastards are eating one another and the vesicle that can replicate faster, and grow and divide faster, then dominates the population. Early genomes did, indeed, have a form of coding but it was completely random and thus provided no useful information. But evolution is all about mutation and natural selection and, eventually, increased information. Early mutations first changed the sequence to contain the most common nucleotides, and eventually the cycle stabilized. Next the secondary structures begin to form that begin enzymatic activity. Suddenly, a living, replicating cells emerges and life begins.

Evolution

Once that first living cell emerged the rest of creation was easy. Cells joined other cells to give them an advantage in getting food and self-defense. Over millions of years more complex life forms began to emerge.

Evolution can work both slowly (sexual selection, genetic drift) and through major mutations. Most of these genetic mutations end in disaster but occasionally one will give a creature a major advantage in survival. This creature then multiplies in greater numbers because it has a biological edge over competitors. Millions of years ago hominids left the forests and settled in the savannas of Africa. Continued evolution — both slow and fast — turned them into you and me.

Summary

The best way to understand ourselves, and appreciate our humanity in 2019, is to put our lives into perspective. We are simply part of a journey that started with hydrogen and eventually became humans, which, as far as we know, is the most complex structure in the Universe. There seems to be a natural law of ever-increasing complexity, and I have no idea where that will take us. Maybe we will just do a loop or maybe we will ditch our carbon-based bodies and become part of the fabric of the Universe.

As for the human-invented Yahweh, he showed up at a time when humans didn't have science and it apparently made us feel better to invent gods to explain the unknown. But a god who calls for the execution of gays and slaughters little Egyptian babies can't be all that great. If you want a real god, go to your grocery store and buy a balloon, since helium is the basis of everything and hydrogen balloons are a little too dangerous.

It's interesting that young earth creationists say that the Earth is 5,500 years old, since that is about the same time Yahweh was invented. Enough said.    

Sources:

• The Terribly Tiny God of MAGA Christians by John Pavlovitz

• Yahweh by Joshua J. Mark

• How to Make an Element, NOVA, PBS

• Organic Material in Meteorites and the Link to the Origin of Life, EDP Sciences, 2014

• The Origin of Life - Abiogenesis, Dr. Jack Szostak, Harvard Medical School

• Origin of Organic Compounds on the Primitive Earth and in Meteorites, By SL Miller, HC Urey, and J Oro.

Photo: Alexander Andrews

The 1,001st God

It's Thursday evening and I'm at the aquatic center taking my weekly swim. I go to the bottom of the pool and there I find my favorite thinking spot. There are no cell phones to bug me, no one can reach me. I am all alone and I'm enjoying the peace and serenity.

What am I thinking about? I could be thinking about all the times I had my heart broken or all the bad decisions I've made in life. I could be thinking about my poor country and its broken political system and broken healthcare system, and dying economy. But this time I am thinking about what a dear friend once told me. She said that God is compassion.

Now, my body is wanting to come up for air and I see the lights from the ceiling blurred and swirling on the surface of the water. Nothing is definitive down here because the water blurs the light. But I know that if I don't breathe the peace will soon become darkness.

But I keep thinking. See, here in America the predominant God is Yahweh, the God of the Bronze Age Israelites. It is no secret that the creation of this God was influenced by both the neighbors and invaders of the Kingdom of Judah. The Western God, you know, the "real" correct God is mixed with a little Babylonian and Canaanite theology, and for the icing on the cake is the ancient belief of Zoroastrianism. Later, Rabbinic Judaism emerged and splinter groups emerged as well, including one little salvationist cult called Christianity. The Roman gods just weren't cutting it any more, and in an act of brilliance the Empire morphed from a physical organization to a spiritual one under the umbrella of catholicism. As time went on groups who believed differently continued to spin away from the Roman Catholic Church, and soon there were the Protestants, Calvins, Baptists, and so on.

I let out a little air and see bubbles quickly rise to the surface where they disappear forever. Now I'm thinking about the people who have their own ideas of God. A person once told me that Jesus was an alien from space, while someone else said that God is simply a collective, universal energy.

I don't know, but suddenly air is my primary focus so I rise to the top, take a breath, and return to my own dark abyss. Now I'm thinking about a recent poll on Twitter that asked the following question:

If you could teach everyone in the world one concept, what concept do you believe would have the largest positive impact on humanity?

Now, we are getting somewhere. We are discussing the very reason of why I blog and what I futilely scream about all the time. The survey had 3,900 responses and I could hardly wait to read the answers. As I scrolled down and read hundreds of answers, there was a consistent theme about teaching the world empathy, compassion, kindness, and unconditional love. So, I'm beginning to think my friend is right. Maybe God isn't one of the 1,000 deities invented by men over the course of history. I now realize that God is our more highly evolved attributes that distinguish us from most other animals. God is altruism, compassion, sympathy, kindness, and love. I know that Yahweh remains the main God for Western civilization, but He could be a real bastard at times. He's the guy who murdered little Egyptian babies and ordered people executed for picking up sticks on the Sabbath. He is not my God, nor will he ever be.

And it's easy to talk about "concepts" like compassion but the reality of applying them is far more difficult. From birth, humans are pushed into a pattern of thinking and behavior that is influenced by their upbringing, religion, and other factors. Most people are unable to break from their patterns and mental programming. While they may acknowledge an attribute like "kindness," they may have more overriding behaviors built in like self-righteousness, piousness, arrogance, and selfishness.

The best way for everyone to make a difference is to accept and learn critical thinking, have an open mind, and tolerate competing ideas. This way of thinking creates the foundation for more higher-level behaviors, such as altruism. Many of us grow up in painful environments and the narcissism and sociopathic behaviors arise as coping mechanisms. Many people will go through life self-absorbed and even indifferent or neutral toward the actions needed to save our world, both socially and environmentally. So, those of us who can still feel must feel, and those of us who can still love must love. That is the collective and positive energy that will create the 1,001st God, and the God that becomes the catalyst for real change.

And now I can come up for air.   

Bottom Photo: Lina Trochez Top Photo: Cristian Palmer

Hate Preaching Resurgence

I haven't blogged in a while, but I feel compelled to say something about a new religious group called the New Independent Fundamental Baptist Movement. This is a group of 30 churches that take a literal and extreme interpretation of the Bible. Most shockingly, they call for the execution of everyone in the LGBTQ community.

My reaction to this group is not anger but more-so I'm tired of all the hate. It's strange to me that religions that supposedly promote love are responsible for so much hate in the world.

From childhood many gay people face persecution, and religious people appear to show the most zeal and hatred. LGBTQ members do not provoke fights and don't attempt to harm anyone, yet a group of fundamentalist Christians wants to give gays capital punishment.

For those who have lost their compassion and empathy, let me assure you that gay people have feelings too. They have dreams and aspirations, and they just want to be happy like the rest of us. They are put into this world "different" and must live their entire lives with their differences rubbed in their face.

To the hate groups who are disguised as Christian groups, I have nothing to say. The haters are always going to hate and those of us who can still feel love need to overwhelm all the evil in this world.

Stating the Obvious

The favorite gay bashing verse in the Bible comes from Leviticus, an old law book that evolved over time. Around 500 BCE a group of priests developed the book into its current form. I won't go into all the other extreme and weird rules in this book, but it's evident that Christian extremists cherrypick the versus to fit their agenda.

I also shouldn't have to mention that gay people have no control about who they are. They are simply wired differently than the majority population. To persecute people for this and call for their death is heartbreaking.

Conclusion

I've already covered the gay issue in an earlier blog post,  and I won't dwell on it here. I will only say that I am saddened and discouraged because all the hate in our world never seems to go way. While we have made great strides in the area of social equality, in the past few years I've been seeing a regression. I realize that Donald Trump has created a climate where it's okay to hate in the open again. I realize that America's conservative, religious whites are feeling threatened and are lashing back. At this point I don't know what to say anymore, other than I'm simply sad.

Photo:Jordan McDonald

It's Time To Eat the Rich

Yesterday, I listened to how the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is going to fight single-payer health care with full fury. For me, this is the final straw. The greed in this country is out of control.

Sadly, the red hat masses will swallow all the lies that the corporate elitists say about single-payer care and "Medicare for all." We are the only developed nation that doesn't offer universal healthcare for our citizens, yet we are told it doesn't work. Instead, we buy insurance policies and when we actually need them the insurance carriers fight us tooth-and-nail to get out of paying all of it. In fact, there is a law firm here in Atlanta that advertises the fact that they are "experts in fighting insurance companies." So, you often have to hire a lawyer to get a carrier to pay you, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is calling that a great system? Wake up, red hats!

The History

First we were told that Reagan's "trickle-down economics" would create jobs for the middle class, but it was a complete lie -- most of the money went to the corporate robber barons. More recently, we were told that Trump's corporate tax cut would "create jobs" and "bring jobs back to America." Again, a giant lie because the executives at the top simply kept the excess profits.

I recently read that the CEO of Disney was making $428 million a year, yet some employees at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA could barely get by and were living out of their cars. The wealthy elitists don't care if the underclass starves, and you red hats support this madness.

It's a simple fact that once you are wealthy it's easier to create more wealth. What is worse is that the millionaires and billionaires manipulate the political system to create more wealth for themselves. Soon, all the wealth rises to the top, which we are seeing now. Worse yet, people like the Koch Brothers create front groups that meddle in public policy at even the most local levels. Billionaires are not only trying to control politics, but they run for office themselves, and win!

A Better Economic System

James Madison, one of our country's founding fathers, was a true genius when he created a government that really is near-perfect. Our constitution is the absolute secret to America's success as a nation. Sadly, our democracy was damaged with the Supreme Court's Citizens United case, which gave corporations First Amendment rights. Despite this bad court case, the gerrymandering, and foreign political interference, we still have a good political system that works.

Now, the next step is to acknowledge that capitalism is an utter failure and we need to find a better economic system. I don't know the answer yet, and I've studied the ideas of tightly regulated capitalism and democratic socialism, but I think the ideal economy will be based on some kind of bartering. Greed is a negative human attribute and it's a shame that we have an entire economic system built around it. What we need is the opposite -- an economic system built around empathy.

Should We Really Eat the Rich?

Yeah, of course, I'm promoting cannibalism -- it's an excuse to enjoy ketchup. But, hey, after all it was Marie Antoinette who started the whole thing when she said, "Let them eat cake." That idea didn't turn out well because shortly afterwards the heads of rich people were falling into baskets all over France. 

The truth is, selfish, greedy people are not worth eating because they turn me off. Now, there are plenty of good rich people who give generously and I'm not talking about these folks. What I'm talking about is the overall nature of an economic system that is engineered to suck the last dollar out of the desperate middle class to greater enrich the wealthy. Look at the pharmaceuticals industry, for instance, which works to keep drug prices high rather than helping people. And there are many other examples of this behavior.

Holy Red Hats

When you look at history the religious institutions usually side with the powerful right-wing even at the expense of the people. In Turkey, Islam is siding with the right-wing government and in Russia the Russian Orthodox Church is on the side of Putin's party. A look at history shows that the church took the side of the conservatives in both the Spanish and Russian civil wars. So, it's no surprise that Christian evangelicals are supporting the wealthy elitists in our country now. Some megachurch leaders even justify their own wealth and the wealth of others by preaching the "prosperity gospel," which flies in the face of Christ's teachings and examples.

I've always been intrigued by the statement of Jesus that says: "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth." Now, to me, this sounds like a green light for a revolution. But maybe what Jesus is saying is that humble people are more open to his teachings. So, yes, a economic system based on the teachings of Christ is a great idea -- love, kindness, etc...

Conclusion

I recently saw a news show where the speaker was saying that some people are incapable of questioning anything because there is something broken in their brains. For some, this is probably true, but if you are able to question, I encourage you to QUESTION EVERYTHING, including your religion, government, and economic system. Don't just swallow everything the corporate-paid talking heads say on the radio or TV.

It is human nature to simply adapt and tolerate a little discomfort rather than to seek change. Our standard of living is no longer better than our parents, and, in fact, we've now reached the point where it's declining. And all the while the super rich are getting richer and engineering the system to screw us over even more. If this is the environment you like, simply because you think you're better looking in a red hat, then I say, "wake up!" Throw that red hat in the trash and become an agent for change!

Look at all the social and political disruption that's going on right now in our country between the haves and have-nots. Rather than a violent revolution I think it's better to just circumvent the greedy and selfish bastards that control our country and then find creative ways to develop our own economy.

As for you red hats, wake up or enjoy your fall over the cliff. 

Photo: Sharon McCutcheon

Conservatives, Religion & Climate Change

Lately, I've spent a lot of time thinking about what makes people conservative or liberals. The situation has become urgent since right-wingers almost always choose to deny climate change even while we are already seeing the serious impacts of our changing weather. What will it take to reprogram their minds and get them on the climate action bandwagon before it's too late?

Research

I've read several articles on conservatism v. liberalism  and no two authors agree completely on what makes a person "conservative." However, there are some common elements:

• How people process fear.
• How people handle compassion.
• Suspension of reality.
• Protecting the status quo, need for order, and resistance to change.

As always I like to look at human evolution to understand current behaviors. As I've said before, our current civilization has only been around for 10,000 years, which is a blink-of-an-eye compared to the 2 million years we spent as early humans and hominids. I imagine that conservatives and liberals have been arguing since our earliest days. One side likes things the way they are, and the other wants to take the risk of change for the betterment of the group.

Religion

To me, religion is like the human appendix. At one time it likely had an evolutionary purpose, but now it remains a biological and cultural vestige, long after its purpose is gone. Jonathan Haidt, an author and social psychologist, confirmed what I had already figured out by saying: 

Some people think that religion is an adaptation evolved both by cultural and biological evolution to make groups cohere in part for the purpose of trusting each other and then being more effective to compete with other groups.

In America, especially, conservative religion and politics appear intertwined and seem to support one another. I saw this first hand with the election of Donald Trump, who is a brass, crude human who enjoys his opulent lifestyle and womanizing, yet I've heard Christians call him a "godly man." Christians who support Trump show me just how far people will go to justify and support their conservatism.

Demographics

As a friend pointed out to me a few weeks ago, the "blues" in the 2018 mid-term election were mainly in populated areas, while the "reds" were typically in rural parts of the country. My own personal take on this is that when you are around a lot of different people with differing ideas you tend to become more tolerant and open-minded. At the same time, there is a little "self selecting" going on because people like to live with others who look and think like themselves.

Convert or Overwhelm?

A regular discussion I've had with my colleagues in the environmental movement is: Do we try to open the eyes of conservatives through rational discourse or do we try to defeat them politically and legislatively through better organizing? I believe the latter is the answer. I live in a very conservative state and regularly have conversations with right-wingers. If I make a "zinger" point they simply brush it off. For instance, they say: "Isn't Trump doing a great job?" Well, he packed the Supreme Court with another conservative and gave a tax cut to corporations and the wealthy, but other than that he has done nothing. When right-wingers brag about the soaring stock market, well that just means companies are getting better at exploiting the underclass and exporting jobs to sweat shops overseas. But conservatives love to throw the stock market in my face as if it's Donald Trump's scorecard.

In the 1960s it was the liberals who pushed through civil rights legislation and got us out of the Vietnam War. Both of these feats were accomplished by "overwhelming" — it was a continual pushing against the Old Guard until it finally cracked and relented. And that, my friend, is the only way we are going to get meaningful legislation passed on issues like gun control and climate change. When we take to the streets it makes conservatives uneasy because they require order. If enough of us clog the streets they will compromise to get us back in our houses. If we burn up the Capitol switchboard enough with our phone calls they will finally push through good legislation. And, better yet, if we elect good politicians in the first place, we can make forward progress.

My Personal Journey To Liberalism

In the fourth and fifth grades I had some amazing teachers who forever altered my thinking. One teacher, Mr. Copenhagen, would have daily group discussions. We would put our chairs in a semi circle and he would play a piece of music or read a newspaper article, and we then discussed it. This opened my mind to critical thinking, which is something schools today appear to avoid.

My next epiphanies came in the late 1980s when I had a job that exposed me to gays and Planned Parenthood. I was raised in a conservative household and attended conservative churches. In the right-wing world there must always be a common enemy to unite the base. For decades the favorite enemies of evangelical Christians have been the gay community and Planned Parenthood. But once I got to know these two groups I discovered that they were not bad, but rather fantastically wonderful people. I then developed resentment toward Christians because they were hating people they neither understood nor knew.

I remember once attending a Planned Parenthood luncheon through my role at work. Part of me said I was in the "bowels of the enemy," and the rebellious side of me liked it. I was curious. Far from being blood-thirsty baby killers, the people I met were loving, kind, and had a real burden and passion for women's health, especially lower income women. The work they were doing was incredible. A decade later I became a Planned Parenthood volunteer.

I guess what makes me a liberal more than anything is that I always want to root for and protect the underdog. Robin Hood is my hero and Donald Trump is the polar opposite -- he is the leader of the brutes who go after everyone who don't conform with mainstream white America. He is gold-laced trailer trash. 

Summary

Conservatives are so good at reality suspension that they deny and forget that they were ever on the wrong side of an issue when positive change finally happens. It is no secret that large Christian evangelical groups opposed civil rights. Now, that's conveniently forgotten. Instead of African-American bashing, religious conservatives have moved on to new enemies like gays, Muslims, liberals, and immigrants. Their leaders touch all the fear buttons and the conservatives dig their heals in and protect their status quo, even if it means suspending compassion. In America being a evangelical Christian has nothing to do with following the example of Christ. Rather, it's all about protecting the cultural status quo.

There's been a lot of talk lately about climate refugees and much of the human disruption in the world, like the Syrian crises and current migrant caravan, can be traced to droughts, which, in turn, can be traced to climate change. By protecting the fossil fuel industry and ignoring climate change the political conservatives who currently control the U.S. government have a lot of blood on their hands. I hold them directly responsible for the unfolding climate disaster that's harming millions of people and animal species. 

Photo: Christopher Campbell

A Reminder of Why I Blog

My blog is dedicated to the book Ishmael, which completely changed my life. The book is the inspiration and the underlying guide for my writings.

In 1991, Ted Turner offered a $500,000 prize for a book offering the most creative solutions for solving world problems. Ishmael, written by Daniel Quinn, was chosen among 2,500 entries. It was selected by a celebrity panel that included the famous sci-fi writer Ray Bradbury. The novel was published the following year.

To sum up the book, agriculture is what radically changed humanity. Suddenly, we had some control over nature, instead of nature always controlling us. It was just 12,000 years ago when agriculture began in the Middle East, which is a blink of an eye compared to the millions of years it took us to evolve into humans.

Once agriculture was established, human development took off at a rapid pace. Within a few hundred years, we became the controllers of the Earth, but our technology has always developed faster than our wisdom and maturity.

Fast forward to the 21st century and we are a civilization that's destroying it's own habitat through overpopulation, pollution, and climate change. I believe we are now headed to global catastrophe.

But it doesn't HAVE to be that way. We don't HAVE to pollute the oceans and air. We don't HAVE to fill the skies with carbon. 

An underlying theme of Quinn's book is the need for conquest and control. I see these same characteristics manifesting themselves today in the form of greed and selfishness. I believe these are learned traits. We don't HAVE to have an economic system that is driven by selfishness and greed, and one that exploits the natural world for quick profit. We CAN change how we live.

“You're captives of a civilizational system that more or less compels you to go on destroying the world in order to live... I think there are many among you who would be glad to release the world from captivity... This is what prevents them: They're unable to find the bars of the cage.”

― Daniel Quinn, Ishmael

My Slow Conversion

In 1997 I resigned my leadership role in a church and began my journey. I soon found a community of like-minded friends in the Sierra Club. The Club had a ListServ system where you could have discussions on a particular topic with colleagues from around the country. Through these on-line forums I met a woman in Houston, Texas who became one of my early mentors. She regularly quoted Ishmael to me, although it was another few years before I finally read the book.

In 2004 I was amazed to find out that there was an Ishmael study group in Atlanta. I was invited to a meeting by a Sierra Club member from another local group, who knew about my interest in human overpopulation. I then became a member of the group, which lasted another five years before fizzling out. During this time I made several close friends, who I still stay in touch with today.

There is a passage in the book that encourages the reader to "spread the word," and I've given many copies of Ishmael to my environmental colleagues over the years. I always keep an extra copy on hand, so if you would like to read the book please contact me and I'll mail it to you.

A Look At Today

I envision a world where spiritual values are held in higher regard than material goods. I want a world where we live in relative peace and exist in a way that does not harm the Earth or other animals species. We should minimize meat intake, since commercial meat production is one of the most destructive industries on the Planet. We need to convert our vehicles and homes to all-electric. Most importantly, we must have small families and learn to be happy with less. The love and obsession with wealth, at any cost, is sending humanity down a bad path. Everyone wants it, but it's the super rich that hordes and controls it, and manipulates the working class to do their bidding by screaming "jobs" -- jobs that rarely materialize as promised and are usually low-paying service sector jobs.

Our current political and economic systems need a complete reengineering. Our values need to change. And most importantly, we need to show more wisdom and help the underclasses, wildlife, and Earth, rather than exploiting them.

Photo: Jorge Fernández

Ending the War on Women

To create a sustainable world it's essential that women have 100 percent parity with men. Religion or culture is NEVER an excuse to subjugate women.

The Abrahamic religions are obsessed with women control. Ever since I was a youngster I thought it was unfair that women had all these dress rules, and men had far fewer. Women are required to wear burkas, or can only wear dresses, etc... The rationale, I guess, is that these dress rules make God happy and help horny men to control themselves (yeah, right).

In the Bible, Mary Magdalene played a prominent role in Jesus's ministry. But fast forward in the New Testament and you find the misogynist Paul turning women into second class citizens. By golly, Paul wanted those women quiet and submissive, and this attitude is still permeated into our culture today.

Equal Rights Amendment

When I was 13 the ERA debate was in full swing. Congress had finally passed it and it was time for the states to ratify it. Thirty-eight states must ratify it to become a constitutional amendment. Finally, Illinois, the 37th state, approved it last May. This has always blown my mind because all the amendment says is: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex."

There I was, an idealistic 8th grader, sitting in class one day during a discussion on the ERA. I remember Chuck, who sat on the front row and was not going to have it. Since Chuck threatened to turn me into a pretzel a few times, I wasn't going to challenge him. But in the back of my mind I thought, "There is absolutely no reason why women shouldn't have 100% equality with men."

Years later I put this belief into action by volunteering for Planned Parenthood. One evening as I was leaving an event, a staff member said to me, "It's wonderful that you are doing this for your daughters." What? That thought had never occurred to me. I simply work for women's rights because it's the right thing to do. Patriarchy disgusts me.

Evolutionary History

Now, before we come down too hard on patriarchy, let's look at our human history. At one time the system might have been necessary to ensure that women focused on child birthing and rearing. In those days, it was quite a feat to get a baby to reproduction age, especially for boys who were regularly slaughtered in wars.

But patriarchy has outlived its usefulness, and our human population is now exploding. In fact, humanity has more than doubled in my lifetime. Yet, male domination is still perpetuated through ancient religions and obsolete cultural memes.

Sustainability & Equality

I find that the best indicator for determining the sustainability and maturity level of a country is by the percentage of women in a nation's parliament. If you look at the graphic below, Western Europe, Scandinavia, southern Africa, and much of Latin America are doing great. Other nations are lagging either because of backward religions or the culture of "machoism."

We like to think that the United States is an advanced nation, but we really are a backwards place, mainly because of conservative religion. Our percentage of women in the House of Representatives is only 19.4%, which is a reflection of our still-sexist culture. A more unpleasant indicator are all the sexual harassment cases that continually make the news. The U.S. still has a ways to go in respecting women and treating them as true equals.

If you are a father with daughters, you should make it clear to them that they can become a president, astronaut, or anything they want. If you promote submissiveness and second class citizenship to your daughter, then you are a weenie.

In regards to marriage, a marriage is a partnership and team. Both the man and woman should have equal say in any decision. If a husband thinks he's in charge because "he's the man of the house," don't put up with that crap. It's pure mythology.

Back in my church going days I attended one church that had women on its leadership team, and no one thought twice about it. At the last church where I was a member, it was men only. I found this insulting and it's part of the reason why I left. Many conservative churches still do not allow women in a senior leadership position, which I find pathetic. If you are a woman and feel uncomfortable with this, LEAVE that church.

Conclusion

I believe that the population explosion is the greatest threat to our planet. But, remarkably, the tools to solve this problem have been built into us all along. All we need to do is treat women as 100% equals. Some women will still want to have children, while others will pursue their dreams to become a doctor, lawyer, or small business owner. The result will be a lower birthrate. The second thing that's essential for a sustainable plant is universal access to birth control. Every woman should have the ability to control the timing and number of their births, or even the decision to have no kids.

Education and equal opportunities must be made available to every girl in the world. Patriarchy, misogyny, chauvinism, and sexism all show the insecurity and inadequacy of men. Get it together guys, and grow up!

 In the end, I'd like to see every nation in the chart above as "dark green," which means that a nation's parliament is at least 50% female. This is a sign of a healthy country and the positive message that it sends will trickle into all aspects of society. In the end, we will have a more balanced world where every girl has just as much value and respect as any boy.

Map Credit: Inter-Parliamentary Union

Photo: Seth Doyle