Wings of the Gods: Birds in the World's Religions

Description:

Birds have always been gods and messengers of gods. More than symbols, birds gained divine status by guiding people to water and food, replanting forests after ice ages and fires, and settling into farming and urban life. Wings of the Gods explores the relations between birds and humans from an evolutionary perspective, starting with the roles of birds in creating the world. The narrative then moves through legends, rituals, costumes, wars, and spiritual disciplines to the current ecological crisis. Since the Industrial Revolution, birds have become the only wild animals that most people ever come to know. Wings of the Gods urges that humans listen to birds and watch the movements and populations of birds to find solutions to climate change, epidemics, pollution, and famine. Just as birds led our prehistoric ancestors out of Africa and across Siberia to populate the world, so birds can lead us away from heat death and mass extinction to an era of harmony with nature. Every religion recorded in history teaches reverence for birds. Now we need a new religion, a religion of nature that regards birds and other animals as equal citizens of earth. Saving even a fraction of the beauty and wonder that has inspired belief in God will depend on this new religious attitude. Fortunately, humans have been developing that new religion for centuries, and the last chapters of Wings of the Gods describe that development.