Watching the World Go By
By Ralph Lynn
[Dr. Ralph Lynn is Professor Emeritus of History at Baylor University and a regular contributor to Christian Ethics Today]
Two late books-one on American social-economic problems and one on the impact promised by science in the near future-have set me to wondering if responsible religious leaders should not organize to study and propagandize in these areas as some are doing now in church/state relationships.
The authors of these two admirable books have done impressive research and have consulted all sorts of modern oracles except for their regrettable neglect of the voices of the religious.
It seems to me that the views presented in both books are quite adequately supported by their documentation.
David M. Gordon`s 1996 book, Fat and Mean: The Corporate Squeeze of Working Americans and the Myth of Managerial "Downsizing, "is a picture of the last fifteen years of our economic history. The following statements give the flavor of his book:
Although the American economy has been growing for fifteen years, "Over the past twenty years, real hourly take-home pay has declined by more than 10 percent.
Michio Kaku`s 1997 book, Visions: How Science Will Revolutionize the 21st Century, is a fascinating, frightening, informed, responsible attempt to tell us about our near future.
Unhappily, he, like Gordon, neglects religion. The following statements indicate some of the startling glimpses of the future for millions of people now living:
Cadmus, needing soldiers, slew the dragon, planted the dragon`s teeth one day, and the next harvested a field full of giant, fully armed, fully trained combat soldiers. Since experience seems to show that what is scientifically-technologically possible is also inevitable, perhaps one should not dismiss this as fantasy. (Note: Kaku also neglects religion. Of literally dozens of big name consultants on his book, not one is a spokesman for religion.)
Ideally, we should have some alert, courageous, eloquent Old Testament prophet-types among our clergy and religion professors to alert us to our dangers and responsibilities.
Our world, however, is much more complicated than the Old Testament world, and our seminaries are not geared to educate the whole range of scholars.
It is encouraging to recall that the Old Testament prophets we honor most were not of the priestly order. Happily, we could easily form a committee of our qualified lay people to do for our responsibilities in the sciences what we have done so well for so long in church-state relationships.
Unless, as David M. Gordon warns, we can apply massive, organized pressure, our economic system will remain stacked against the majority of our people, we will continue to be bystanders as science expands its empire, and the world will continue to neglect religion because religion is negligible.
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