Richard Littledale's
Views on the News: January 2004

A message for the blue planet

Views recently received the following unexpected transmission. Reception was poor, and we reproduce only that part of the message which was clear…

Citizens of Planet Earth, enough is enough!

As I emerged from my house on your Christmas Day, I was struck on the head by an enormous inflatable ball. I was so incensed by this that, on recovering from my concussion, I went in search of the object in question. On finding it, I snapped off its radio antenna. I had just finished repairing the damage caused by the ball as it rolled around my property when I was startled by a mechanical clanking close by. I turned to discover a metallic monstrosity, inappropriately named "Spirit", crushing every living thing in sight under its caterpillar tracks. As if that were not enough, sleep has been impossible for the past two weeks as our neighbourhood has been constantly bombarded by radio signals from overhead. What is the meaning of this?

The thing which puzzles us is what fascinates you about our dusty home. Some say you are looking for water. And yet you have 1385 million billion litres of it on your planet. The fact that you cannot agree to share it has nothing to do with us. Others are saying that you are looking for life forms here. According to our records you already have 2 million species of animals, 30,000 species of fish, 8000 species of birds and 100 million species of plants. How many more species do you need? Perhaps if you weren't so quick to kill off the ones you have already you wouldn't need to look for them elsewhere. Still others say that you come here looking for meaning. Ironically, that is just the reason that we have been planning a trip to your planet. Our next mission is planned for...

At this point the signal broke up. It is the belief of Christians the world over that Planet Earth on which we live, in all its diversity, contains more than enough evidence to answer the most fundamental question of all - is there a God?

"For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse" (Romans 1 v. 20)