Dominion versus Dominionism
An age old misunderstanding of the Song of Creation has resulted in terrible pain for Gaia and Her creatures. Dominion is not domination. Rather, dominion is loving care.
One of my hobby horses is,
"Beware the -isms!"
Many of you are familiar with my hobby horses,
I'm sure.
They're ideas that I think are important for our time,
and I tend to ride them a lot.
I try not to ride them to death.
I'm so opposed to the "-isms"
that they may be in more danger
of being ridden to death
than some of my other hobby horses.
What I'm talking about
is that (in most cases)
the "-ity" is good.
The "-ism" is not so good.
Am I still not making much sense?
How about a couple of examples.
Community is generally a good thing.
Communism is sometimes not thought to be
so good.
My favorite way to approach this matter
actually fits today's topic exceptionally well.
In Spanish there are two words for Christianity.
[(Notice that the word is an -ity only in English.)]
One word is cristiandad, Christianity.
The other is cristianismo, Christianism.
Cristiandad is Christian living.
Cristianismo is Christian doctrine and institutions.
Christian living, in the sense of following Jesus,
is generally regarded as a good thing.
Christianism,
in the sense of dogma and its enforcement,
is sometimes regarded as not so good.
In our time,
one of the expressions of Christianism
is known as dominionism.
As with many names for movements or ideologies,
this name was applied by its enemies.
(The same thing happened with the name
Christians as applied to the early Christian church.
In the vernacular of the time, the word,
Christian, would have implied,
the smeared or oiled ones.
Eventually,
they wore the insulting nickname
as a badge of honor.)
The dominionists of our time
are those who subscribe to
a particular interpretation of Genesis 1:26-28:
(KJV)
"26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."
Now these words of Genesis are newly important
to all the world
because a fundamentalistic interpretation
is claiming that dominion means
permission to exploit.
In a nutshell, the idea that dominion is exploitation
is a simple summary of dominionism.
[(With that in mind,
let me point out that the term dominion
here in the first chapter
of the first book of the Bible
does not necessarily mean
what the dominionists think it means.)]
Dominion does clearly mean rule.
It is from the the Latin word, dominus, lord.
It does not mean "lording it over" anyone
or anything.
The word dominion means loving care,
not exploitation.
It means stewardship,
in the sense of the greatest good for all involved.
I don't want to pursue the subject of stewardship
too much right now,
because it's another concept
that's widely misunderstood
and misrepresented.
It's a topic worthy of consideration on its own.
At the same time,
the idea of the greatest good
for the greatest number
is a helpful one for our purposes.
The person to whom that quote is attibuted
is Jeremy Bentham,
who is also known
as an early advocate of animal rights.
And that brings us back to our theme of
dominion vs. dominionism.
Inasmuch as dominionism refers
to lording it over creation
and dominion means stewardship,
the issue of animal rights
is a good bellwether
of the care of Mother Earth
vs. the exploitation of her.
Because we human children of Mother Earth eat,
dominion is an important concept for us.
We cannot produce our own food in our bodies
the way plants can do it,
so we have to eat other creatures
in order to sustain our lives.
The way we approach eating plants and animals
is a way to begin to understand
our relationship to the Earth,
to Gaia herself.
Vegans and vegetarians provide an example to us all
that humans can be nourished well
without eating meat.
There are, of course, controversies on the subject
as there are about almost everything.
Some food experts believe that feeding the world
with our present resources and technology
would require the consumption of some meat,
in moderation, of course.
In any case, a right understanding of dominion
can include enough food for us all,
and even food animals can be included
in the concept of loving care.
I've spoken of Temple Grandin before,
and I'm sure I will do so again:
She is a professor of animal science
at Colorado State University,
and an excellent example of dominion,
rightly understood.
She is not opposed
to the slaughter of animals for food,
but she has developed
a remarkably humane method
to remove cruelty from the whole procedure.
Even from the point of view of meat production,
her methods are helpful, economically viable,
and they are widely used in the industry.
Of course, there is controversy
among animal rights activists
about the very concept
of speaking about
compassion and respect for animals
in the context of slaughtering them
for our food.
Yes, as long as meat is part of our diet,
it is an important part of dominion
to treat with compassion the animals
who provide the meat.
Temple Grandin actually spoke
here in Coeur D'Alene last November,
and I should probably
apologize for telling you about it
after the fact.
In my own defense, I just learned about it
while preparing for today's sermon.
In any case, compassion is the heart of the matter.
Compassion for Gaia, for our whole planet,
is probably the most vital part of dominion.
The idea of unlimited exploitation
has not been serving us well by any means.
True dominion would call for more concern
than we have traditionally shown
for the sustainability
of all of our activities anywhere in the world.
Since charity begins at home,
the way we treat each other
is the first step toward dominion:
again, not trying to lord it over each other,
but showing each other loving care.
Food and energy production would also be impacted
by a right understanding of dominion.
Not far to the south of us
is one of the richest agricultural regions
on the planet.
The Paradise called the Palouse
has deep topsoil, blown in for millenia
from volcanic activity to our west.
If it's treated well,
the topsoil can endure for many generations,
even conceivably improving over time.
If it's allowed to erode away by poor practices,
most of it could be gone
in a couple of generations.
Likewise to our south,
near the town of Rosalia, Washington,
there is an impressive wind farm.
To me it symbolizes dominion in a good way.
As we notice especially during the present season,
wind is definitely a sustainable resource
in our part of the world.
Renewable and sustainable sources of energy
may be the single most important expression
of true dominion in our loving care of our world.
Last week I heard Bill Nye the Science Guy
say that a sustained, world-wide effort
could lead to 80 percent of the energy we use
being sustainable in 20 years.
Continued effort could take us to 100 percent
sustainable energy in 40 years.
Our task in the meantime
will be persuasion.
In the first place, we can speak of the understanding
of dominion as loving care rather than exploitation.
We can also advocate for a better understanding
of climate change and the things we can do about it.
The horrible cold weather
in the midwestern states last week
is a direct result of climate change,
not evidence that it isn't happening.
As more and more people begin to experience
the worsening consequences of climate change,
our compassionate voices will be needed
to help them understand what is happening
and to offer hope of change and healing.
It's still not too late
if we accept the better understanding of dominion
as loving care.
I believe that people
who have denied climate change in the past
will soon be looking for answers
as we all must try
to live with the consequences.
Acting with compassion
as true dominion calls us to do
could truly save the world in our time.
Amen.
So mote it be.
Blessed be.
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