Do we really want a perfect world?

As science and technology advance to give humans more control of the world around them--from curing disease and lengthening lifespans to inventing new fuels and engineering genetically superior crops--people who study ethics find more questions to ponder. For example, at some point, is it important for humans to accept certain limitations? Maybe so, according to Lisa Sideris, assistant professor of religious studies at Indiana University, Bloomington.

"In religious environmental ethics, environmentalists have tried to take religious ethics at the core of their traditions and extend them beyond humans to animals and the natural world, but that doesn't always work very well, because the resulting ethical imperatives fail to take into account the way nature actually works, particularly with regard to natural selection," she says.

Some Christian ethicists argue, for instance, that ethics should address all suffering in the natural world, not just that of humans. Yet, this very well may clash with biological realities, Sideris points out. Some organisms kill and eat other organisms, and nature is not set up to provide for the needs of all life forms simultaneously, without conflict. "Some Christians believe that nature is the way it is--characterized by suffering and strife--because it is 'fallen' from some more perfect, original state," Sideris explains. "So, they think it is appropriate for us to try to steer nature back toward that 'Garden of Eden.' I completely reject this interpretation of nature, which actually is pretty widespread among Christian environmentalists. I think Christians have to get on board with evolutionary theory if they want to understand what nature needs from us."

Sideris believes that scientific knowledge of how nature actually works is missing from much of the continuing debate about creation versus evolution. "It is impossible to talk about the environment without at least some knowledge of biological processes. So, I'm interested in seeing what common ground can be found between scientific and religious perspectives on nature and the human-nature relationship. A lot of religious environmentalists, and even secular environmentalists, are too suspicious of science and stay away from it.

"For me, the idea of a universe not for or about us is awe-inspiring," she adds. "Paradoxically, if we ever do succeed in gaining complete control over the natural world--such that it is all about or for us--we would lose our humanity."

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