Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Environmentalism is a Religion

Freedom to worship as we please is one of the hallmarks of, and rights guaranteed to, the citizens of the United States.

The Pilgrims came to the New World not to guarantee freedom of religion. No, they came to guarantee that THEY could worship, as THEY saw fit… not, necessarily, anyone else.

So we have a hodge-podge of religions is America. Some are uplifting and others are just plain goofy.

On of the discoveries, made by anthropologists, is that the human animal will, somehow, create a religion. It seems the human animal must have belief in something that gives meaning to his, or her, existence.

In this century, and the last, so many have turned from the worship of a supreme being, we call God, to what we used to call “paganism”… the worship of nature, or the environment, or… more specifically… Environmentalism.

Yes, Environmentalism has become a religion. Well, actually, it always was, it has just come back into favor in the past 100 years, or so.

One thing I want to set straight before continuing: nature is not God. It is my belief that GOD created nature. Now, we can continue.

Many so-called atheists are worshippers of nature, or the environment. If one worships it… it is your god. Seems to me, those atheists are not true atheists. They DO have a god; only it is a pagan god, the environment.

Michael Crichton, in his “Environmentalism as Religion” remarks, made before the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco in 2003, summed it all up.

The believers in environmentalism believe and preach that we should live in unity with nature, or the environment. They believe that in the beginning we did. They believe that we are now living in sin because we have polluted the earth. We will be visited with a judgment day and the judgment will be death, for the whole planet, unless we repent, (which means to turn around and go the other way) and make our way back to sustainability. You see, in the environmentalism religion, sustainability IS salvation.

Michael Crichton, in his “Environmentalism as Religion” remarks, made before the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco in 2003, summed it all up.

See Crichton’s remarks here::
http://www.crichton-official.com/speeches/speeches_quote05.html

It is important to understand that, for the most part, those who would worship nature have never really experienced it.

Want to go camping? Out comes the insect spray, the mosquito netting, the snakebite kit, the calamine lotion, sunscreen, and on and on. The urban environmentalist tends to think of nature as something with which man can live in harmony. So far, that has never happened … in the history of mankind. Animals eat other animals to stay alive. Then, of course, we humans, at the top of the food chain, eat the animals which ate the, you know, smaller animals. The weather is a constant threat to humans. The harmony of nature and man is a myth. It has never been so. If you want to learn about nature, talk to a farmer, or a hunter. They know about nature. Most people don’t.

Most of us live in an insular world. We have created an oasis away from nature. Occasionally, we think we want to "commune" with nature so we take a road trip or a camping trip… and we take as much of our amenities, right along with us, as we can cram in the SUV. If we actually come into contact with nature, it is by accident.

Man has always been at odds with nature. Nature is unforgiving. It will kill you in a split second.

So, the environmental religionists are calling for us to repent. We are doomed as a result of pollution, global warming, running out of oil, the whole list of tribulations the faithful are so sure are coming.

They have been wrong, so many times. Remember the ice age, which was to begin in the 1970’s? Where is it? Sorta like the nut pacing the sidewalk with his “Repent, the world is coming to an end” sign. When the world doesn’t end, he changes the date and keeps on pacing. The environmentalist simply changes the reason the world is coming to an end, and they keep on preaching doom and gloom.

You see, as with all religions, the environmentalist bases all these horrible things on faith. Yes, faith in his belief. He believes he is correct. It is his faith, his religion, and he will not be shaken.

So, we have all the preachers of the Church of Environmentalism, preaching at us none stop. They preach fear. They preach gloom and doom. They preach forsaking progress and returning to the days when man lived in harmony with nature, even though no such period ever existed in the history of mankind.

As a believer in one God, the Creator, I cannot buy into their religion. I believe that this planet, this ecosystem, if you will, was given to man, as his home, by the Creator. We are charged with being good stewards of our home. But, when we take such good care of it that we come to worship it, we have sinned and fallen short. And that, Dear Reader, is wrong!

To protect our home we need to use hard science, not some knee jerk reactionism. We need to rely upon our common sense. To think that man, himself, can destroy the earth is laughable. It is the height of arrogance. The earth can wipe humankind out in a moment, in the blinking of an eye. Like a dog shaking it’s wet coat and flinging water droplets hither and thither, the earth could rid itself of it’s temporary visitors at anytime.

No, it’s time for clear thinking people to step back and take a serious look at the claims the fundamentalist preachers of environmentalism are making. Check the science, not the pop science, but hard science. There is where their claims will be proven, or disproven and hopefully discarded.

In the meantime, for those who profess to believe in nature’s God, the scriptures tell us that man cannot serve two masters. You cannot subscribe to the faith of environmentalism and maintain your faith in the God of, and the creator of, nature. You will serve one and forsake the other. Which will it be?

Longstreet

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can't speak for all of them, but I myself, feel to destroy that wich was given to us by God, to be our home is like a slap in the face to God. We must ensure the continuation of this place, our home for future generations. We only have one planet and if we could just use this one up and move on, isn't that a real testiment to mans vanity? or maybe gluttony, to consume a whole planet's resources until the planet itself is lifeless and baron? St. Francis of Asisi was the first Christian enviornmentalist...... and as I know you have reverence for history all I as is you check into his life.

Longstreet said...

I agree with much of what you have to say, Frank. But we have to be careful so that we don't wind up worshiping the "created" rather than the "Creator". I'm afraid that's what has happen to our "green" friends.

As a Lutheran, I'm up on the Saints. "Frankie" was not one of my favorites. I can't put a finger on just what it is I dislike about him, but there is a natural turn-off for me toward St Francis.

Anonymous said...

Interesting essay, Longstreet. I agree with you generally about the power of nature and the often preachy tone of many environmentalists.

I do see quite a bit of hard science to back up many of the claims of the environmentalists. Just recently, there have been alarming wire reports on the melting of Greenland's glaciers and the almost complete dessication in parts of Eastern Africa and a "60 Minutes" report on the melting of the polar ice at the North Pole.

Also, the environmental movement itself is currently in a roiling division between those who still cling to "sustainability" and those who advocate nuclear and other technologies as an alternate means of future salvation.