The New Environmental Priesthood

Iain Murray, Competitive Enterprise Institute: Religion plays a vitally important role in human life. This is especially true in America, and America’s dominant religion has always been Christianity. In 2004, the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that 71% of Americans agreed with three central Christian statements: “prayer is an important part of my daily life;” “we will all be called before God on judgment day to answer for our sins;” and “I never doubt the existence of God.” That figure was only 54% for self-identified liberals and 52% for selfidentified liberal Democrats. . . .

Just as environmentalism has replaced Marxism as the central economic theory of the far Left, so too has environmentalism begun to replace liberal Christianity as the Left’s motivating religious force. Were it not for the presence of powerful African American Protestant churches in the liberal alliance, environmentalism might have supplanted liberal Christianity already. The causality works both ways: The environmental movement has taken on facets of religion. The movement’s increasingly religious tone has attracted those who are thirsty for spiritual gratification yet averse to traditional religions.

There are two dominant mythical forces in the cosmologies of ancient Indo-European religions: the Weather God (Zeus, Jupiter, Thor) and the Earth Mother (Gaia, Ceres, Freya). The Weather God resides in the sky and lashes down rain, hail, and thunder on those who anger him. The Earth Mother gives her faithful followers her bounty, but when they fail her in some way, she retaliates with famine. Frequently, the two are married. Today, both the Weather God and Earth Mother are central to the global warming issue. The atmosphere is to be protected at all costs, its avatar appeased by the closing of power stations and shutting down of internal combustion engines. Thus, his hurricanes are to be averted and his beneficent winds are to drive turbines. Moreover, the Earth is to be worshipped by returning to her simpler ways, with people shunning biotechnology and nuclear power. She will reward them.

These two gods are supported by a variety of hierophants and augurs. Shamefully, many of them are supposed scientists. A scientist who says that the atmosphere is warming, and cites certain physical processes, is still a scientist. A scientist who argues that people must take certain acts to avoid disaster has become a priest. It is no coincidence that words like prophet, seer, and sage, historically associated with religious figures, now are routinely applied to leading alarmist scientists. The leader of the movement, sermonizer supreme Al Gore, is even adoringly referred to by true believers as The Goracle. . . . [Read More]

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