I have borrowed the title of today’s post from John
Lennon. While the lyrics of Lennon’s famous song mainly relate to: “a brotherhood
of man ……. sharing all the world” my words concern environmental, health,
wellness and justice issues which constitute a similar proposition.
Imagine a world without pollution in which weather patterns are not
distorted by emissions from dirty industries, oil based fuels for cars and transportation generally, into to the atmosphere causing global warming. The
heating up of the planet is having the following influences on worldwide
weather: leaving low-lying coastal regions and cities at risk of flooding from
higher seas and storms; having an influence on global food production because
of droughts in certain parts of the world and excess rain in others both having
a disturbing effect on food production and making prices go up as a
consequence; causing artic ice to shrink resulting in loss of habitat for
animals and fish dependent upon it.
Imagine a healthier world without junk food, convenience food, street
drugs, and the need for less prescription drugs. Lots of health problems could
be prevented from occurring in the first instance if people had a healthier
diet. The incidence of diseases such as cancer, diabetes and arthritis per head
of the population has increased more than a hundredfold in the past 150 years
as a consequence of the introduction of processed foods taking people away from
nourishing basic foods. The introduction of sugar in all its different forms
into foodstuffs and soft drinks has also greatly contributed to health
problems. The medical establishment’s response to this compounded situation is
prescription drugs. The latter at best only give a temporary respite from the
symptoms, and do not address the root causes of problems which usually relate
to a poor diet.
Imagine a world without famine. More than 10 million children under the
age of five die in the world every year. Of those, more than 60% die from
diseases brought on by malnutrition. Despite some developed countries giving
generously to famine-stricken ones in the form of aid, a lot of the latter is
taken by corrupt officials or armed groups in the countries concerned. It is
much better to help people at a local level to invest in seed banks and
distribution within a region in order to make the best use of the land. Any aid
contributed should be channelled directly to local organizations, as far as
possible, in order to avoid corrupt officials siphoning off money for
themselves.
Imagine some of the injustices that exist in the world being sorted out.
In recent days we have had the third presidential debate in the US election
which concentrated on foreign policy issues. The two combatants, Obama and
Romney, when discussing the Middle East agreed that American interests in the
region exactly coincided with those of Israel, neglecting to mention at all the
right of the Palestinian people to a homeland. Such an oversight only serves to
further the views of those advocating armed conflict in order to bring the
issue once again to world attention.
The United Nations are the only trans world organisation trying to sort
out some of the problems highlighted above. However, they are hampered in some
cases by their own rules such as the Security Council’s inability to secure a
vote condemning Assad of Syria because of the need for all permanent members to
agree on such a resolution. Church leaders, and especially Christian church
ones, have failed to provide any guidance beyond their own narrow and generally
prejudiced views of the issues facing mankind. Only the Bible provides hope in that when things
get awfully bad on this planet, the Book of Revelation predicts an intervention
from on high because of man’s inability to sort out problems of his own making.