Global Warming as a Religion

Religion and a faith in something much greater than yourself is a part of almost every psyche; however, this can manifest itself in a variety of ways. There are sociologists and psychologists who claim that, for some people, there is this absolute need to have a God, to believe in God; and that, to them, explains religion throughout the ages. However, I believe this need to be almost universal, and not with just a few personality types (although there is some validity in this theory that some have a greater tendency than others). Therefore, when a person does not believe in God; or when they reject religion, they must fill this void in some way or another. They have to believe in something.

It is not a coincidence that the new left tends to be godless, anti-religion, anti-church organizations; yet, at the same time, very committed and very emotional about their causes. They have this inner need to believe in something, to do what is right, and to feel guilt and/or moral superiority. If they forsake God, then they have to fill that void in some way or another. The very religious might join PETA; they might become strong or even rabid conservationists, strongly political, or they may become Global Warmists, people who are convinced that global warming is not only a reality, but that it is being caused by man and that we are in a crisis situation now, at the crossroads, where our choices over the next 20 years will affect the entire planet. Although many will admit that, maybe they are wrong about this; the percentage chance that they are wrong is possibly as low as 1 or 2% in their own minds. They have faith; they have a strong faith, and they will defend that faith with words and sometimes even with actions.

In these parallels which I draw, I am not denigrating global warming (at least, not very much) nor is this a list of areas where global warming falls short in some way or another. I am simply listing the many parallels between theology and the doctrine of global warming.

Theological Concept	Global Warming Counterpart	Commentary
God/Savior/Messiah	Liberal government, big government, international law, the UN, Al Gore, Ralph Nader, Bob Napier, Tony Juniper, Graham Wynne, Bill Clinton	Just as different religions place their faith in a variety of saviors, prophets, priests and churches, so it is with those concerned about Global warming.
Salvation	Faith in the Holy Trinity	Faith that global warming is occurring and that it is imminent; faith that man—particularly industrialized western man—is to blame; and faith in liberal Democrats to solve this great problem.
Sacrifice	Being willing to submit to the will of a liberal government which knows better.	This is primarily expected of us in the US and those in other industrial nations; India and China, for the time being, will be given a pass on this.
Self-sacrifice	Being willing to give up some of your conveniences for the greater good.	A favorite target of global warming prophets of doom are SUV’s, even though these prophets regularly fly around in private jets. There are a number of adherents, the true faithful, who actually do make personal changes to their lives.
Alms/penance	Carbon credits	I must admit, when I first heard about carbon credits, it put a smile on my face.
Evangelistic meetings	Large gatherings for special speakers	This would be for a speaker like Al Gore who flies into town and a huge number of people come out to see him. Sometimes there will be shame felt by those in attendance who have large carbon footprints. Imagine someone showing up to one of these meetings in an SUV.
Churches	Global warming websites	Global warmists do not gather regularly in a physical place; however, many of them do attend on-line services, so to speak at www.carbonplanet.com or www.Terrapass.com or www.globalwarming.net or www.stopglobalwarming.org
The prophets	Science, scientists; some of those listed above, e.g., Al Gore.	These men are revered and seen as righteous, unprejudiced, and without an agenda.
False prophets	The minority of scientists who disagree with the true prophets above.	The ones who do not believe that man has caused global warming; those who do not even believe that global warming is occuring (even a greater blasphemy!). They are in a small minority, they are mostly supported by evil big oil, and they should not be teaching in our public schools nor should they be allowed to speak out (i.e., they can come and speak, but the righteous are encouraged to come and shout them down). All weathermen and governmental employees who do not adhere to the doctrine of global warming must be removed from their positions. This is, by the way, a tiny, tiny minority of scientists who have either been bought out or cannot see the evil in their ways.
The righteous ones, the faithful	Conservationists, environmentalists, radical environmentalists, Democrats, liberals, the workers, the working class, minorities, gays	Those who are strongly concerned about global warming see themselves among the righteous and those who are able to see the truth clearly. Just as a Catholic does not adhere to every aspect of their faith, so is the global warmest; he may or may not drive an SUV, he may or may not recycle, he may or may not drive at the ideal speed for fuel conservation, he may or may not drive a hybrid. However, this does not necessarily have a direct relationship to the strength of his faith, just as very strong and dogmatic Catholics may have glaring gaps between their lives and their faith.
The true faithful	Ralph Nader, Ed Begley Jr.	Those who not only talk the talk, but walk the walk, are seen by those inside global warming and outside the faith as fairly genuine. A Christian counterpart might be Billy Graham.
The hypocrites	Al Gore, Bob Napier, Tony Juniper, Graham Wynne, Robert Kennedy Jr., Arianna Huffington	Those outside of the faith of global warming clearly recognize that those flying in private jets all over the country to tell others what they should do to reduce their personal carbon footprint are clearly the hypocrites of their faith. True believers may or may not see them that way. The Christian counterpart would be any televangelist who has been involved in a sex or monetary scandal. Now, despite the huge global footprint by some of these spokesmen, such a footprint is justified (and even cancelled out) by their cause and by the eventual effect that their speaking out will have. Also, many of them purchase alms (carbon credits) to atone for their sins.
Satan	Big oil, big business, George Bush, the rich (those who are not among the faithful), America	Emotions run strong here and almost everything done by those seen as Satan is evil and has evil motives attached. George Bush, although on the one hand, is seen as the stupidest man who has ever lived, is, on the other hand, able to fix national elections and to control the world oil market in order to further his evil designs (specifically for a national election). Of course, Bush cannot be simultaneously stupid (a given fact) and brilliantly evil. Therefore, those who work for him supply the brilliance in their evil power plays; or, better yet, those for whom Bush works supply the brilliance (e.g., big oil, which placed Bush into power). In any case, every word that comes out of his mouth is a lie and fraught with evil of every sort. The same is true of any oil executive who speaks publically and any scientist which questions global warming and man’s contribution thereto.
The unrighteous, Satan’s minions	white male conservative Republicans, American consumers	These are people who hate the environment and have a desire to hold onto every cent they have ever made and enjoy polluting the atmosphere and do so whenever possible. Some in this group are simply deceived often due to their own ignorance or by being brainwashed (many by talk radio, which needs to be placed under more governmental control and/or regulation).
Freedom, restrictions of freedom, free will	Ideas about how to solve global warming.	There is no more debate about the truth of global warming; it is a fact; a majority of scientists agree—that ends all discussion; it is time to act. Debate about the faith must now be replaced by righteous actions.
Sin	Pollution from specific industrialize countries; the lives and works of those listed above	Pollution from the US is deemed much worse than pollution from mainland China.
Forgiveness	This is primarily available to the righteous; not generally available to the unrighteous, unless they renounce their white, consumer, Republican ways	The heart of a global warm-ist is far more important than what they do. So, flying around in private jets to instruct others in the faith; driving SUV’s, driving fast; not recycling, are generally excused if one dogmatically holds to the faith. For instance, I know two individuals whose carbon footprint exceeds mine, but who see me as a part of the unrighteous since I do not hold to global warming as a cause as they do. One is so pissed off at me (and my evil philosophies), that he periodically stops communicating with me. I could be forgiven, but I would have to repent of my evil philosophies (my lifestyle probably would not have to change very much)
Self-righteousness	Those who are global warm-ists see themselves as a little smarter, a little more righteous, a little less brainwashed than Satan’s minions.	Now and again, self-righteousness might be imposed on one of the faithful by one of the faithful. Although this is rare, particularly because this religion is struggling to take hold and to take control, now and again, one environmentalist will question the actions of another (I can’t think of an example, but in theory, I would expect this to occur once and awhile).
Righteousness	Strong emotional support given to the righteous and to their chosen messiah	It is the motivation and the hearts of the faithful which is judged righeous; their votes for the right things and the right candidates is seen as righteousness. Again, their actions need not conform to specific doctrines of the faith, particularly if they are fervent and passionate about the faith.
Unrepentant heathen	Conservatives and republicans who do not buy into the global warming crisis.	Just as a Christian believes the heathen to have been blinded by Satan, Global Warmists see these unrepentant heathen as being brainwashed and/or mindless.
Persecution of the faithful	Loss of privacy, loss of freedoms	Bush has taken away all of our basic freedoms and all of our privacy; it is constantly amazing when courageous liberals speak up in Hollywood for the cause of the faith or send out their loving messages in daring films of truth and power (Syrianna, An Inconvenient Truth, Fahrenheit 9/11). It is sometimes amazing that, despite the crushing, evil forces of Big oil and Bush, that somehow, someway, these great movies of truth somehow are made and released to the public. Who knows how long our evil government will tolerate the truth and shut it down?
Hell	Essentially the same as the apocalypse below
Apocalypse	What will happen if we do not stop global warming; some see this as inevitable as Christians see the Tribulation (Apocalypse)	This is what will happen if Republicans, conservatives, Big oil and George Bush have their way. THEY MUST BE STOPPED!! Any means by which this can be achieved is justifiable, including intentional lies and distortions of the truth.
Lake of Fire	In Christianity, the Lake of Fire was created for the devil and his demons; in global warming, this would be eternal disgrace poured upon George Bush, a chief opponent of all that is good.	Bush’s administration must be seen as a failure in every way possible. His international affairs have ruined the US and US foreign relations for decades; his economic policies have destroyed our economy (tax breaks for the rich, the increased difference between the wealthy and the poor, the huge accumulating deposits), our government (government is now broken, government spies on us constantly, we have lost all of our freedoms and all of our privacy), and our way of life (no universal health care, the two Americas). His administration must be seen as the worst possible thing that could have ever occurred to America (until he dies, of course, and then he will be treated like Ronald Regan or like Gerald Ford, also evil men who were seen as those who destroyed our way of life during their administrations). As an interesting addendum, I believe the Bush administration has $5 billion going toward global warming and that his house in Crawford is actually much more environmentally friendly than, say, Al Gore’s.
Salvation	Voting liberal democrat in democracies; yielding more authority to the UN; supporting worker revolutions in foreign countries	Salvation is a means to an end here; there needs to be a strong, fervent majority who are saved, so that they can take this planet back from the unrighteous.
Heaven	What this land could be if liberal, democratic conservationists take power and the Kyoto accord is signed and fully enforced; or, life on this planet without man	Although it is possible that we have gone too far as a species on this planet; some hold that somehow, through great efforts and sacrifice, heaven on earth can be achieved (no pollution, no war, no poor, no racism, no hatred, no conservatives, no rich); others simply see as man destroying himself, and restoring the planet to what it ought to be: plants and animals and nature.

I want you to note that global warming is the perfect liberal cause. It is far enough in the future, to where its leaders and messiahs do not have to produce results. They need to talk about it and do things about it, but they can always say, “We just didn’t start in time” if things don’t get better; or, if the temperature changes downward, they can say, “We have succeeded” and if it does not change at all, they can say, “We have stopped global warming!” This involves huge sums of money to be controlled by the government, increased government taxes, increased government spending, increased government size, increased subservience to international laws, treaties and agreements, with heavy yet just financial burdens placed upon Big oil and the rich. If somehow eternal disgrace could be heaped upon George Bush, this would be icing on the cake.

One of the things which I find to be fascinating about this movement is, I have two friends who are strong supporters of this movement. Now, I know for a fact that I have a much smaller carbon footprint than either of these two people; I was raised by two depression-age parents, so recycling, reusing, and not wasting is almost a lifestyle for me (I am not too obsessive about it). Like many conservatives, I like the idea of natural parks, forests and wildernesses, and I like the idea of air smelling clean. I also believe that we should avoid putting cancer-causing chemicals into the ground or into the air. A huge number of conservatives feel the same way. Personally, I believe that there needs to be a balance. Obviously, we could achieve clean air and water if we shut down every factory, every power plant, and made it illegal to drive. But there is a balance to be struck here, or so I believe.

Because I don’t buy into the dire consequences of global warming due to man’s function on this earth, these two friends of mine periodically cut off relations with me, swear at me and treat me with utter contempt. The problem is, not my lifestyle or my actions, nor is that even a consideration; it is my beliefs and my willingness to often share the reasons for my beliefs with them (since they share theirs with me). Because their adherence to global warming as a religion is so strong, their reaction toward me is often very emotional. My point in this is not to denigrate these two people, who are very sincere in what they believe; it is to point out the strong emotional component which is a part of the global warming religion (one of these friends, by the way, came out of a very emotionally charged form of Christianity).