"For billions of years, species have gone extinct, bodies of water have dried up, rivers have changed course, etc. Yet, when it happens now, people talk as though this is something that must be stopped. Very often, such people are materialists who regard matter and energy and natural processes as 'all there is'. Yet, for some reason, they don't regard human activity as just another part of the overall grand scheme of nature.

And that would be a significant point if the Christian picture of humans as creatures in the image of God who are superior to and responsible for creation were true. But that's exactly what you deny. We are not, by your reckoning, spiritual beings who are superior to and responsible for creation. We are, by your reckoning, just unusually clever pieces of meat, largely acting in response to hormones, environmental pressures and so forth. Whence all the outrage?"

That's something I always wondered about! And I think Shea has a good point.