A Creator's Convention

     from Global Warming and War

     From his seat at the front of the bus, Tony stared out the windshield at the dark and wintry road ahead.  He could not see individual trees in the black forest lining both sides of the gently rising road, but he could see patches of white snow on their branches.
     He spotted, about a mile ahead, the blinking yellow light of Woodgate.
     Now he could see, ahead on the right, lit faintly by the half-moon low in the west, the square white bell tower of the Woodgate Chapel.  As the bus drove past the moonlit chapel, its front steps heaped with snow, a Christmas wreath a black circle on the big white door, Tony wondered why the Bible said so little about taking care of the world.  People often quoted, "Be fruitful and multiply," so now we had over six billion, and well might reach nine billion by mid-century.  But no one ever said from the pulpit, "Do unto the forest as you would have the forest do unto you.  Do unto the lakes.  Do unto the ocean.  Do unto the very air that you breathe."
     He wondered if the Koran placed any value on taking care of the natural world.  If Jehovah and Jesus and Allah and Muhammad and Confucius and Lao Tsu and Buddha and the Great Spirit all got together at a Creator's convention, what would they have to say about the poisoning of the blue dome of heaven, about the poisoning of the sparkling blue sea? 
     Perhaps some disciple, taking notes, would write a new gospel, in which appeared injunctions concerning sins against the Earth. 

     John Slade
     Woodgate International
     http://www.woodgateintl.com/