Life on Earth

About the Book

Exciting insights await the reader of the book Life on Earth: scientific and religious views. Here we lay out the historical search for God and the DNA code of life. The chemicals of life are best understood by examining cells because all creatures are composed of one or more cells. The genes in each cell are long stretches of DNA used to link amino acids together into proteins. RNA may critically adjust the activity of each gene and may have even been responsible for the emergence of life. Clear illustrations make it easy to grasp how these molecular codes govern the life of cells.

Life on our planet is robust, having persisted for nearly four billion years with evolutionary diversification into multitudes of microbes, fungi, plants and animals. “Survival of the fittest” is not only a hallmark of the evolution of organisms but also of religions. For example, during the two centuries after Jesus, Christian leaders cast aside numerous Gospels like the Gospel of Judas as unsuitable for the New Testament, even actively suppressing the most shocking Gospels.

In addition to hoisting a powerful God, the major religions deploy priests to provide moral guidance and compassion while touting a Heavenly fate after we die. The briefness of our lives adds appeal to Christianity and other religions that offer immortality. It is this hope of a sublime afterlife, as touted in revered texts and animated by claims of miracles and saints, that keeps religion afloat. Scientific evidence can run counter to some religious notions framed to stir devotion. Undercut by fresh genetic evidence and spectacular sequences of dated fossils, “Intelligent Design” of all species by God fails to account for the slow evolutionary descent of species. And so it is that the roles of science and religion conflict:

Science seeks mysteries to explain

 Religion relies on mysteries to sustain

 Women are significant beneficiaries of the last two hundred years of biological research that has dramatically elevated our understanding about life while correcting several theological propositions.

The final chapter of Life on Earth indicates how climate change threatens our lives as it undercuts advances in public health that have doubled the human lifespan. Successful and equitable solutions to worsening climate changes will not occur without a massive boost in the use and storage of solar and wind power, a virtual elimination of carbon released into the atmosphere, and ultimately a smaller human population.

About the Author

Professor Emeritus Bruce Oakley, M.Sc., Ph.D. taught biological science at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. A specialist in the development of the nervous system, he has carried out numerous studies on nerve cell function, growth and survival. He brings the Quaker values of simplicity, honesty, and compassion to this fascinating assessment of scientific and religious outlooks of Life on Earth now threatened by climate change.