This letter is associated with the following article:
Letters
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 12:00 AM

God enough

We should see the ceaseless creativity of nature as sacred, argues biologist Stuart Kauffman, despite what Richard Dawkins might say.

Read other letters about this article

  • Wednesday, November 19, 2008 02:16 PM

    To invoke nature's wonders, we need "God"?

    Perhaps, there is no practical need to "invoke natures wonders" in the first place.

    It seems to me that nature consists of "ceaseless creativity" and "ceaseless destruction" in equal measure.

    I remember a few years ago I gave my seven-year old some amazingly beautiful microscopic photos of actual snowflakes for a class "show and tell". One of the parents of a child in my daughter's class noticed them and asked how anyone could possibly look at these photos and not believe in God.

    Oddly enough, that very morning, before I delivered the snowflake images, I had been reading some on-line accounts of the Iraqi civilian casualty figures, as they stood back two or three years ago.

    Included in that piece were some indescribably horrible images of wounded Iraqi children. I also remember the first thought that occurred to me after seeing the first photo. I wondered how can it be possible, that human beings continue to believe in God and a "loving" one at that, in the face of such misery and destruction.

    Some of you may suggest that atrocities committed by humans are somehow apart from or outside the realm of nature. We convieniently like say that some things appear in nature, while others are "man-made". The actual fact of the matter is that we are part of the natural world and by logical extension everything that we do is in every sense "natural". From atomic bombs to plastic-surgery...it's all nature.

    It's time to stop believing in the grown-up version of the Tooth-Fairy. It really doesn't have to be as lonely and frightening as you might imagine.

Most Active Letters Threads

740

The commendably missing element from Obama's speech

There was no pretense that human rights is our goal, or the likely outcome, in escalating the war
405

Do Obama officials know what his Afghanistan plan is?

What explains the completely contradictory statements from key aides on a central plank of the war strategy?
402

America's regression

It's almost impossible to find a nation with as many torture advocates as the U.S. has.
317

Palin: Birthers have "fair question" about Obama

Of Obama birth, the ex-governor says, "the public is still, rightfully, making it an issue" (Updated)
211

The poster boy for progressive self-delusion

Read Hayden's 2008 Obama endorsement to remember the way the left sold our centrist president to itself

View all »

Letters Help

Currently in Salon