Angry Charles warns scientists of disaster
John Vidal and James Meek
Wednesday May 17, 2000
The Guardian
Prince Charles's simmering anger with the direction of some modern science will tonight blow into a philosophical storm as he argues that the only way to avoid environmental catastrophe is for humankind to rediscover an urgent "sense of the sacred".
In a Reith lecture, to be broadcast on Radio 4 tonight, he will confront scientific materialism, politicians and business leaders to argue that it is because of humanity's "inability or refusal to accept the existence of a guiding hand that nature has come to be regarded as a system that can be engineered for our own convenience and in which anything that happens can be fixed by technology and human ingenuity".
He will add: "We need to rediscover a reverence for the natural world, irrespective of its usefulness to ourselves, to become more aware of the relationship between God, man and creation."
The lecture takes swipes at biotechnology, the government's modernising zeal, and economic globalisation - and warns that it is only by employing "both the intuitive and rational halves of our own nature that we will live up to the sacred trust that has been placed in us by our creator".
He asks: "If literally nothing is held sacred anymore, what is there to prevent us treating our entire world as some 'great laboratory of life' with potentially disastrous long-term consequences?"
But the prince is careful to build bridges between modern science and the sacred. "We need to restore the balance between the heartfelt reason of instinctive wisdom and the rational insights of scientific analysis. Neither is much use without the other. Only by rediscovering the essential unity and order of the living and spiritual world and by bridging the gap between cynical secularism and the timelessness of traditional religion will we avoid the disintegration of our environment."
The Prince of Wales has weighed into the debate over genetically modified foods before, but this time his attack on the scientific approach is broader and deeper. Some of his critics are likely to interpret his remarks as an assault on the whole medical and agricultural revolution being ushered in by the new era of genetics.
His fears over GM crops may have inspired his criticism, but his lecture is a cry against excessive scientific rationalism in general. His belief that tampering with nature is an affront to God, whom he refers to throughout his lecture as the creator, is spelled out more explicitly than in previous statements.
The 22-minute speech draws on green gurus including Fritz Shumacher and Rachel Carson, natural theologians including Philip Sherrard, and radical economists such as Herman Daly, formerly of the World Bank. Last night it was well-received by British environmental leaders, who are increasingly at odds with what they see as the fundamentalism of some modern science.
Peter Melchett, director of Greenpeace, said: "It's long overdue that someone pointed out how bereft and barren of humanity are those people who claim they are acting on the basis of 'sound science'. They say in effect that culture, society, values and religion don't exist."
Charles Secrett, director of Friends of the Earth, said the speech would be a wake-up call to politicians and business leaders who thought nature was "a piece of machinery".
"He is reminding us that nature is something wondrous and beautiful and that we have to learn that humility to develop a truly sustainable relationship with nature," he said.
Jonathon Porritt, a close friend of the prince's who has also argued that science today is philosophically unable to address the challenges of sustainable development, said: "There is an overwhelming consensus that everything can be sorted by 'good science'. But it cannot be a panacea. It is a part of the mix but not sufficient in itself."
The prince's words provoked a strong response from Richard Dawkins, the zoologist and award-winning science writer. "Far from being demeaning to human spiritual values, scientific rationalism is the crowning glory of the human spirit," he said. "Of course you can use the products of science to do bad things, but you can use them to do good things, too."
Others were scathing. "He's attacking everything that has been done by mankind in the past 100,000 years," said Julian Morris of the Institute of Economic Affairs.
"Man should consider man foremost. Does Prince Charles think we ought to go back to the point where we are at the whim of nature? In Genesis, man is called on to take charge of nature. This seems to be akin to some pagan love of an earth goddess."
[end]
Carl
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