The commencement speaker this June at the largest Catholic university believes that Christianity is the most dangerous of devotions and that the earth would benefit from the extinction of man. De Paul University, in Chicago, is hosting E.O. Wilson, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and professor of entomology at Harvard University. Wilson’s beliefs run directly contrary to Christian tradition, and his statements are unequivocal in their opposition:
1998: “The most dangerous of devotions, in my opinion, is the one endemic to Christianity: I was not born to be of this world,” as belief in an afterlife weakens man’s devotion to the planet earth.”
Barack Obama’s Science Czar, John Holdren, echoed that notion when he wrote: “The Christian concept of life in this world, as voiced by Saint Paul, that ‘here we have no abiding city,’ for example, conceivably could help explain why some people show rather little concern for the long-term future of the global environment or for the well-being of future generations.”
Back to more Wilson:
1999: If all humanity disappeared the rest of life would benefit enormously…the forests would grow back, the whole Earth would green up, the ocean would teem, and so on . . . if the ants were all to disappear, the results would be close to catastrophic.
2002: We all, or most all, realize that humanity has pushed its population growth pretty close to the limit. We really are at risk of using up natural resources and developing shortages in them that will be extremely difficult to overcome . . . We have this bright prospect down the line that humanity is not going to keep on growing much more in population…and then begin to decline.”
2012: “We are entering a new world, but we’re entering it as Paleolithic brains. Here’s my formula for Earth’s civilization: We are a Star Wars civilization. We have Stone Age emotions. We have medieval institutions — most notably, the churches. And we have god-like technology. And this god-like technology is dragging us forward in ways that are totally unpredictable. We have not gotten beyond the powerful propensity to believe our group is superior to other comparable groups. However, we are draining away the instinctual energy from nationalism — that’s a big help. I think we’re seeing the beginning of the draining away from the dreadfully dissolutive, oppressive institutions of organized religion. Seeing what’s happening is part of the reason for the Tea Party and the populist revolt now that has kidnapped the Republican Party. There’s a resentment about the old bonds and the old groups dissolving and new groups being formed.
Catholic organizations are furious about De Paul’s betrayal of its Catholic values. Matthew Archbold of the Cardinal Newman Society, a Catholic university watchdog organization, wrote, “Why a Catholic institution would give a platform to a population control advocate who blasts Christianity as ‘dangerous’ is unfathomable.” Catholic blogger Mary Ann Kreitzer took on De Paul, too: “This is the picture of Christianity that DePaul is willing to promulgate? And consider the irony of a biggest Catholic school in the country hosting a man who would be happy to kill off the students of the future.”
When even the staunchest champions of Christian tradition start caving to political correctness, it’s time to worry.