Love and Belonging Without Creation (from "From Nature to Creation")

Chapter 1 in From Nature to Creation made me reflect on a lot of things.  The views expressed did not necessarily challenge me because I am a Christian and already hold the beliefs it expresses in terms of creation and human beings being more than just an accidental perfect colliding and evolution of cells.  What it does get me thinking of is how atheists or people who do not believe in a creator can value the world.  Along with this are the earlier points in the chapter, such as the point of being lost.  We are lost in the world if we don’t know who we are or where we are.  Cut off from a creator, we are no longer creation, and we are not dwelling in a place that was created lovingly.  The fact that all life is sacred rests upon the fact that they had to be created with a purpose and with love.  If not, then we are all just causal accidents, and we owe nothing to anyone or anything.  The question that I begin to wonder here is how are there atheists or other people who do not believe in a creator or creation that say they value the natural world and value other people?  Why would any form of life mean anything to them if they are all just random things with no order or meaning?  I have met a number of people who are very nice and aren’t going around polluting the world and saying that its all trash even though they don’t believe in a god or value the world as creation.  What’s their motive? And if they can respect other creations, whether they realize or not that that is what we all are, then how are people who claim to be Christians and understand that we are creation from a loving creator disrespect the world as we too often do?

                On a final note, I like how emotions and love were talked about being inherent to the creation view.  The chapter says that “Love is finally silly because it is but the effluence of random chemical perturbations.” (Smith) Again, we probably all know atheists who love, but taking away the element of sanctity and creation seem to undermine any premise for love.  Not that everyone must be Christian and believe in love as we do, but I think that there needs to be some recognition of something beyond ourselves and a loving force in order for one to truly understand the concept of love.