The AMOC was in the news again this week, and not in a good way. The letters stand for the Atlantic segment of the planetary ocean currents that move heat from the tropics to the polar regions, creating temperate climates in which life abounds. Without going into detail, the problem is that the warming climate is bringing that oceanic heat conveyor belt to a standstill. The kicker is that the irreversible process could begin as early as 2025. Next year. Will it? Most probably not. Could it? Yes.

That won’t destroy all life on earth, although it would create dire circumstances. Flooding, famine, fire, frost, all experienced with desperate human fear. The scenario is apocalyptic, a reminder of the end. But what will most likely destroy all life on Earth, if not also Earth itself, will be the collision of the Milky Way with Andromeda in 4.5 billion years. Replace that “most likely” with “definitely”, and face the obliteration of our entire solar system in 5 billion years, when our sun, should it survive the galactic crash, inescapably evolves into a red giant and incinerates everything.

If the future ultimately entails the total transformation of our corner of the universe, the past also has transformed our corner and has been most generous. The generative process began [continued?] about 13 billion years ago. Eventually, our sun was spun from dust into existence, and then we along with it. As self-conscious creatures, we have determined that the history of Earth goes back a long way. We know about the reshaping of the surface through the movement of tectonic plates. We know about previous extinctions when life on earth died to be born again. Dinosaurs who roamed unfettered for millions of years were obliterated when an asteroid struck Earth 66 million years ago. But new forms appeared, and last but not least, we appeared, not homo sapiens at first, but other hominins that evolved over the course of six million years, culminating in us. And here we are, new arrivals in a garden prepared over the course of 13 billion years. The past and the future meet in this our moment. I don’t believe that the universe put earth here for me or for you, but it is here and we are here, and we should be most thankful for the gift, enjoying and tending as we are able, as best we can.

It seems, however, that there are those who are determined not only not to enjoy and tend themselves but are intent on disrupting the life that the rest of us would be pleased to lead. If we swept away all division, we would probably realize that all most of us want is to have enough food and shelter and live life in peace and happiness with our friends and family. We don’t want a palace with huge grounds. We don’t want power to lord it over others or to increase our wealth. We just want enough, and we want to be happy. Everywhere, worldwide. It seems so simple.

What makes it not simple are those who greedily seek wealth and power and consequently do not accept others for who they are. And so we have racists who cannot love others who differ in skin color. Misogynists who grant unto themselves the power of patriarchy fail to give thanks for the beauty of the full human family. Xenophobes who are so locked into their little world that they are unable to see themselves in others. These are the people who initiate and encourage war. These are the people who cheat on the scales of the marketplace. These are the corporations who rape the land, steal from the people, and hide behind the profit motive. These are the people who sow chaos and steal that which belongs to others.

It’s true that such as these have always been around, but right now they are the ones infringing on our happiness, and we must not accept as inevitable the wrong they do. We must refuse to accept the havoc and destruction they impose on the rest of us. We in the United States are at a crossroad, and because that is true for us, it is also true for all the world. If the forces of evil- and they certainly act like such forces- win in America, then the whole planet is in peril.

What can we do? The fact is that civil-minded folk outnumber the forces on the other side. There are just more of us than there are of them. The problem is that we have not recognized the current existential threat. We slide along the path we are on, pretending as though next year will be the same as this year. It will not. We are already engaged in a civil war, but we don’t see it, and we sleepwalk while the battle rages. I believe that the central power of the threatening forces is the evangelical church. Fundamentalist Christians, as personified by the Speaker of the House, believe that they are engaged in a war with the power of evil and are willing to do anything that they believe will help them win that battle. And who is this enemy? Basically, anyone who is not one of them. I visited such a church a few weeks ago, and they firmly believe that the forces of secular modernism are attacking them, and if you are not one of them, you will spend eternity in hell. Paranoid as they are, these evangelicals are themselves the evil force, very dangerous, happy to kiss the ring of Trump and destroy life for the rest of us.

They need to be called out by everyone. They do not follow Jesus, neither his teaching nor his example. All civic-minded folk must stand up, speak up, and be counted. Republican Party powers cower in fear. That cannot be the way we go. Too many courageous people have gone before, from Hebrew prophets who called out evil and civic leaders who challenged society to higher ground, to brave men and women who gave their life to preserve the right to live life in peace. We have a lot to be thankful for. All we have to do is to stand and be counted, but stand we must.

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Carl Krieg, Ph.D. received his BA from Dartmouth College, MDiv from Union Theological Seminary in NYC, and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago Divinity School. He is the author of What to Believe? the Questions of Christian Faith,   The Void and the Vision,  The New Matrix: How the World We Live In Impacts Our Thinking About Self and God and How The Rich Stole Jesus. As professor and pastor, Dr. Krieg has taught innumerable classes and led many discussion groups. He lives with his wife Margaret in Norwich, VT.