If land can be sacred, as widely believed, we must avoid narrow concepts of the extent of that sacred land.
If the universe was divinely created, all land is sacred.
Land is scarce. Claims that some areas are more sacred than others obstruct optimal use of it.
The sacredness of particular land has been put forward as an objection to various kinds of construction on tribal land. Oil and gas pipelines crossing reservations have been denounced as desecration of sacred territory.
A recent attempt to transport "cremated human remains" to the moon (unsuccessful because of rocket failure) was denounced by the leader of the Navajo Nation. According to the New York Times "The Navajo people revere the moon as a spiritually important object." "Discarding" human remains there "is tantamount to desecration of this sacred space," according to the Navajo president.
People opposing carbon fuels have encouraged tribes to oppose pipeline projects. But this tactic cuts both ways. Carbon fuel interests have encouraged tribes to oppose construction of electrical grid because they would cross sacred or "culturally important" lands.
But electrical grids allowing replacement of fossil fuels with clean electricity will protect our planet and all of its land.
In Hawaii, expanded use of the top of Mauna Kea on the Big Island as an astronomical observatory has been opposed by some native Hawaiians and conservationists.
"We do, to this day, believe that Mauna Kea, and the summit area in particular, is the place where the Earth Mother, or Papa, meets the Sky Father, Wakea," according to Dr. Noe Wong-Wilson, executive director of a foundation aiming to preserve native Hawaiian traditions. "So life begins at that point. And in our cosmology ... Mauna Kea, the mountain, is the first born out of that union."
Of course the highest point in Hawaii — 13,796 feet above sea level — is also uniquely valuable for observing the universe. The air is thin there and the less air that light coming from distant stars and galaxies must pass through, the clearer the image.
Astronomers help us understand the universe around us.The more we understand the universe, the better we can protect our planet and all its land from destructive natural forces that our own activities may magnify and enable.
It would be too bad if the idea that some land is particularly sacred were allowed to stand in the way of taking measures to protect all of this sacred land.
The idea of uniquely holy land is not just an American problem. In the news every evening we see reports about the war between Israel and Hamas. This news is often under the banner "War in the Holy Land."
The irony of using "Holy Land" to refer to an area where hatreds and violence are so prevalent is obvious.
The heart of the problem is that both Jews and Muslims consider the area not only holy, but divinely given exclusvely to them. We are well familiar with Jewish claims, going back to Old Testment times, that God gave them the area forever.
But how many are aware of the parallel claims put forward by Hamas? According to the Hamas Covenant:
"This is the law governing the land of Palestine in the Islamic Sharia (law) and the same goes for any land the Moslems have conquered by force, because during the times of (Islamic) conquests, the Moslems consecrated these lands to Moslem generations till the Day of Judgement." (Hamas Covenant, Article 11)
Both of these conflicting doctrines cannot be right.
The city of Jerusalem includes Temple Mount, which many Jews, Christians, and Muslims consider especially holy. It has been the center of continuing controversy and conflict.
Wouldn't it would be wonderful if the people currently living there could figure out how to live together in the peace and prosperity befitting actually holy land?
Paul F. deLespinasse is Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Computer Science at Adrian College. He received his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 1966, and has been a National Merit Scholar, an NDEA Fellow, a Woodrow Wilson Fellow, and a Fellow in Law and Political Science at the Harvard Law School. His college textbook, "Thinking About Politics: American Government in Associational Perspective," was published in 1981. His most recent book is "The Case of the Racist Choir Conductor: Struggling With America's Original Sin." His columns have appeared in newspapers in Michigan, Oregon, and other states. Read more of his reports — Click Here Now.
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