In Anthill, the protagonist is almost murdered by a fanatical Christian religious group that also has an interest in turning the natural area he champions into an intensive housing development.
1. Financial self-interest aside, is the role of religion vis a vis respect for the natural world always this negative? (I’m thinking for instance of the Green Bible, and the many groups who view the natural world as a sacred trust or something in relation to which mankind is a “steward.”)
2. To what can we attribute the extreme anti-nature stance taken by some religious groups?
3. Are there not other religions for whom all life is sacred?
4. Are we as a species hard-wired to always pick the low-hanging fruit, and thereby anti-conservationist by our very nature?
