In Christianity, God provides for man an all encompassing narrative of life. Man, yielded to God, does not have to make up reasons for his existence. Nor is he left to guess as to the nature of his predicament. In the story of Adam and Eve we learn that man has fallen. Paradise is ruined. God hates the rebellion of sin that brings destruction. In the end, man’s destructive powers will destroy, but not beyond God’s redemptive powers to deliver and save. An apocalyptic end of time is insured by sin, but avoided by grace.
When people reject God and the sacred texts that reveal Divine Truth, they are left to come up with another story, another kind of narrative that will make sense of their lives. How will they explain man’s predicament? Who will tell us of the end that is to come? Why are we here?
As the modern world rejects Christianity and all the Judaeo-Christian principles derived from it, environmentalism may be emerging as a new religion. Environmentalism offers an alternative account to the Christian story.
Environmentalism has its own account of creation (evolution), its own understanding of sin (capitalism), its own devil (Republican), its own weeping end (global warming/catastrophe). Salvation is found in new age principles (earth, air, fire, water), in pluralism (why can’t we all just get along?) and borderless countries. The priests of this religion (liberal media and Democratic Party officials) rush to the discoveries of the Yerkes Institute to excavate what it means to be human. The “Back to the Bible” version of environmentalism mourns the fact that we don’t huddle in Ape Groups anymore, and marks the decline of our species with the architectural finds of stone tools (which became deadly weapons.) Forgetting that sticks used to be the ultimate weapons, environmentalists blame environment, for the problems of mankind. In a which came first, the chicken or the egg cycle of debate, environment shapes man and man shapes environment.
So be it.
The shortsightedness of this new religion, the historical amnesia with which it is afflicted, and the hubris that drives it, makes it much too laughable. The danger of our laughing at such ludicrous theology is simply this: our chuckles obscure the stunning facts. A lot of people believe this stuff, and politics and public policy are being driven by it.
When people reject God and the sacred texts that reveal Divine Truth, they are left to come up with another story, another kind of narrative that will make sense of their lives. How will they explain man’s predicament? Who will tell us of the end that is to come? Why are we here?
As the modern world rejects Christianity and all the Judaeo-Christian principles derived from it, environmentalism may be emerging as a new religion. Environmentalism offers an alternative account to the Christian story.
Environmentalism has its own account of creation (evolution), its own understanding of sin (capitalism), its own devil (Republican), its own weeping end (global warming/catastrophe). Salvation is found in new age principles (earth, air, fire, water), in pluralism (why can’t we all just get along?) and borderless countries. The priests of this religion (liberal media and Democratic Party officials) rush to the discoveries of the Yerkes Institute to excavate what it means to be human. The “Back to the Bible” version of environmentalism mourns the fact that we don’t huddle in Ape Groups anymore, and marks the decline of our species with the architectural finds of stone tools (which became deadly weapons.) Forgetting that sticks used to be the ultimate weapons, environmentalists blame environment, for the problems of mankind. In a which came first, the chicken or the egg cycle of debate, environment shapes man and man shapes environment.
So be it.
The shortsightedness of this new religion, the historical amnesia with which it is afflicted, and the hubris that drives it, makes it much too laughable. The danger of our laughing at such ludicrous theology is simply this: our chuckles obscure the stunning facts. A lot of people believe this stuff, and politics and public policy are being driven by it.
