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We provide a focus for liberal religious worship and reflection and a centre of fellowship for people of religious sentiment. |
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Bury Unitarian Church |
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One World
This is one of the readings from the One World service held on the 19th October with acknowledgment and thanks to GREENPEACE:
"Think
of the planet Earth as a
46-year old"
The Earth is thought to be around 4,600 million
years old, an almost inconceivable time-span. For the moment, think of
it as someone in middle age,
46-years old.
This person is a late developer. Nothing at
all is known about their first seven years, and only sketchy information
exists about the next thirty-five years. It is only at the age of 42
that the Earth began to flower.
Dinosaurs and the great reptiles did not appear
until a year ago, when the planet reached 45-years old. Mammals
arrived only eight months ago. In the middle of last week, human-like
apes evolved into ape-like humans, and at the weekend, the last
Ice Age enveloped the Earth.
Modern humans have been around for four hours.
During the last hour, we discovered agriculture. The Industrial
Revolution began just a minute ago. During those sixty seconds of
biological time, humans have made a rubbish-tip of Paradise.
We have caused the extinction of many hundreds of
species of animals, many of which have been here longer than us, and ransacked
the planet for fuel.
Now we stand like brutish infants, gloating over
this meteoric rise to ascendancy, poised on the brink of final
mass-extinction, and of effectively destroying this oasis of life in the solar
system.
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INTRODUCTORY BOOKLET: A FAITH WORTH THINKING ABOUT  click here for a free download |
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Bury Unitarian Church Tel: 0161 761 3785
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