Noah was not a conservationist
Is the story of Noah's ark a good one for today?
Having been stimulated by Mark Dowd’s article in the Friend about Operation Noah, the Christian campaign focusing on climate change (9 October), I went to their website to find out more. Most of it was excellent but one part that irritated was the answer to the question: Why Operation Noah? This is what it says: ‘Well, we’re not called Operation Noah for nothing! At a time of genuine climate threat, Noah was a virtuous man, a conservationist, who did the right thing. He stood out from others, exercised bold leadership and helped protect God’s creation on the Ark. Humans and animals survived intact.’
This is a distortion of what the Bible says. In the Old Testament story, the climate threat comes not from humanity but from a destructive God who, regretting he had created humanity, decides to destroy all living things, apart from Noah and a huge crate full of animals. Noah wasn’t a conservationist – God recreates the earth in the story! Noah didn’t exercise leadership; he just did as he was told.
I do wish Christians didn’t use this story! It is based on ancient mythology, not history, and it presents a concept of God that should be offensive to all Quakers. We are encouraged to regard each human being as unique, precious, a child of God, and to show a loving consideration for all creation, but this story could be taken to teach that humans – and indeed most of creation – are disposable, of no value.
Does this matter? I think it does, because Noah’s ark is one of the few Bible stories that most children know. Who knows what distorted views of the divine it is putting into their minds?
