In one (perhaps many) of Terry Prachett’s books, he opines that the strength of a god is dependent upon the number and strength of the belief in that god. But of course, gods don’t dies, so there are a number of ghost-gods whisping their way around reality, seeking believers.

While practice has shown this is not the case off the Discworld, it still can be said that belief shapes the world. “If you think you can’t do something, you’re right,” and other quasi-inspirational platitudes. If enough people believe that [women/darker-skinned people/other denigrated minority] are worthless, then they are. But once people stop believing that—or start believing the opposite—reality changes and it suddenly becomes inconceivable that what society used to think was taken as gospel.

Two recent developments have impressed this upon me.

The first, a blog called No Unsacred Place was begun to remind its readers (and its creators) that all is sacred—and we need to be reminded of that. Along the lines of “my body is a temple,” if we can remember that everything is sacred and everyone is holy, perhaps we can make the world a better place. Our beliefs are borne out in our actions—whatever the beliefs are. I would like my beliefs to bear joy, beauty, and holiness.

The second was linked to me by the first, the Law of the Rights of Mother Earth [English amateur translation] was recently passed by the Bolivian government. The commentary about it that I found on No Unsacred Place was “It Matters What We Believe“. This theory is also present in Our Mother’s Keeper, a new Mormon blog.

It has always baffled me that Christians do not pay more attention to the rape of their planet. But then, I suppose the differing translations of Genesis 1:28 are proof that more people believe they need to “subdue” the earth than “govern” it. That belief has certainly shaped this reality.