Friday, September 11, 2009

Forum: Edward Wilson’s "Apocalypse Now"

  • Using notes from your critical reading, post a public comment of 50-100 words about Edward Wilson’s "Apocalypse Now," which appeared in the September 2006 edition of The New Republic. Update: also post a response to another writer.
  • How to do this: Click "comments" below this post, then compose your comment in the box provided, select "Name/URL" under "Comment as," click "Preview" to proofread your comment, and finally click "Post Comment." Update: since we're practicing commenting on a public forum, rather than selecting a username from an account (such as Google) that might not reflect your real name, please provide at least your first initial and last name under "Name/URL."
  • Think of this comment in terms of inquiry: you can question, analyze, interpret, respond, compare, contrast, or elaborate, but try not to engage in outright argument. The comment should also incorporate a paraphrase of, or quotation from, the text it's addressing. In constructing your comment, pay particular attention to the rhetorical situation: has the source text already been introduced? What kind of author tag seems most appropriate? Has another comment already addressed the substance of your comment?

10 comments:

  1. My first reaction to Wilson's "Apocalypse Now" was that while he may be writing to a Chritian pastor, and is himself a scientist, his ideas of "saving and preserving creation" sound similar to those ideas about nature that are held by Buhddist monks. I think it is far reaching for Wilson to ask so much from just one pastor, from one religion. The pastor to which he writes is imaginary, but no doubt there must be some pastors/preachers etc. out there that do preach the conservation of the earth that "nature--God if you prefer, pastor--has laid before us." However, Wilson's goal of combining church and science as allies i feel would not be accomplished with anything short of direct orders from the pope!

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  2. "Apocalypse Now" by Edward O. Wilson is a written as a letter to an imaginary pastor. In this letter he attempts to convince this pastor to join him in trying to combine the scientific and Christian communities together to work towards making a difference in the climate change. Wilson feels that if these two very different groups came together it could have a huge impact on the environment. In this article, Wilson states that "the National Association of Evangelicals has 30 million members", which is significantly larger than the humanist organizations, therefore, if these two groups joined forces the outcome would be very powerful. Overall, Wilson is stating that people need to come together to work towards this common goal of saving our environment.

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  3. “Apocalypse Now” is a very well developed letter of thought on global warming. Wilson’s thought on uniting science and religion with the same goal of saving our planet is a brilliant idea. There is such a huge religion based society in America that if you got everyone on the same page it would create huge change for our planet. Religious views are some of the strongest in the world, and if climate change was incorporated into them, saving our environment would become like religion where you would do all you could for that one goal. This letter gives a very good different look on climate change and how to address it.

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  4. Edward O. Wilson wrote an article entitled, “Apocalypse Now”, calling Christians and other religious folk to join in the fight for biological conservation. Wilson focuses on the differences of secular humanism and religious world views, but continues to urge the church to become allies. For how desperate and serious this problem is, I believe the differences between the worlds’ views were focused on too much. The tone of the article was as if Wilson was talking down to the audience.

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  5. In Edward O. Wilson's article Apocalypse Now, the Harvard biologist creates a letter adressed to the common Baptist pastor. Wilson's focus is specificaly aimmed at uniting the differences of humanism and the religious views of the church. His goal of joining the two is to find a way to initiate the concern of biological presevation of the general public. Wilson accomplishes his goal by relating himself, an unreligious man, to the concerns of the church. Such things as patriotism, love, and obligation underline the similarities of both the church and scientific neccesity in which Wilson trys to accomplish in his essay.

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  6. In Wilsons’ article ‘Apocalyspe Now’, the author stresses the importance of changing our rate of ruining our environment before it is entirely too late. The Harvard biologist has written a letter to a Southern pastor, and points out their differences, from their beliefs in science versus religion but ties them together through “the good reason to hope that an alliance on environmental issues is possible” and “you and I are both humanists in the broadest sense: Human welfare is at the center of our thought.” Throughout the whole letter it is easy to see that Wilsons main goal is to connect the church and science to help solve the problem of ruining our environment.

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  7. in response to Ashley's post, I would have to agree with her. Wilson seems to be trying to bind science and religion, church and state together, and as we all know from government class, that just doesn't work.

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  8. In response to Alex's comment. I do not take this letter as being sent to one pastor from one religion. As it was written in a open form, it reaches out any pastor that may be reading it. I do agree with the fact that some pastors out there are indeed conservationists as well, and perhaps the letter could have made clear that not all overlook the environment.

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  9. This is a response to the post that belongs to Alex. I completely believe that an order from the religious community will not solve this problem. It is not only the religious people who are not doing anything about the environment, but many people in the secular world have yet to respond to the pleas of many environmental groups. Religious leaders can speak of the action that must be taken until the cows come home, but ultimately it is a personal decision. Also in today’s age many people are beginning to stray away from the teachings of the church or just not listening to what is being said.

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  10. This post is in response to Stephen's post. I agree with the way that he summarized the article. The author's purpose is to unite the Christian community and the scientific community. I liked the way he described why Wilson thought that the two very different groups should come together for the same purpose.

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