Posted on 03/26/2006 11:08:59 AM PST by Daryl L.Hunter
There is a new Paganism taking root around the world and it manifests itself as environmentalism or more explicitly, Pantheism, a doctrine identifying the Deity with the universe and its phenomena, Fundamentalist Environmentalism, if you will.
Pantheism is a metaphysical and religious position, it is the view that "God is everything and everything is God, the world is either identical with God or in some way a self-expression of his nature” Similarly, it is the view that everything that exists constitutes a "unity" and this all-inclusive unity is in some sense divine.
Anthropologists have observed in cultures the world over that specific social structures are always present, and religion in one form or another is always one of these constants. Apparently religion is never eliminated from society and integral in the psyche of a human’s nature, if you suppress it in one form, it re-emerges in another. The environmentalist’s pantheism seems to be emerging as the new pagan religion of many of the world’s secularists. Many who revere the earth would deny they do so as a religion but anthropological anecdotes tell a different tale.
Dr. Michael S. Coffman President of Environmental Perspectives said: “Diametrically opposite to Christianity, Judaism and Islam pantheistic beliefs make no allowance for a one true God who created all things of nature. Instead, pantheism holds that all earth and all of nature is god, comprised of many gods and goddesses, all of whom demand total worship and obedience from every human. Failure to do so will evoke the wrath of these gods. Over the past 30 years, these pantheistic beliefs have gradually dominated the environmental policies of both the United States and the United Nations. And, they are interwoven into every environmental international treaty, especially the Convention on Biological Diversity.”
Author Michael Crichton who studied anthropology in college has made some very astute observations as well, he states: “Environmentalism seems to be the religion of choice for urban atheists. Why do I say it's a religion? Well, just look at the beliefs. If you look carefully, you see that environmentalism is in fact a perfect 21st century remapping of traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs and myths. There's an initial Eden, a paradise, a state of grace and unity with nature, there's a fall from grace into a state of pollution as a result of eating from the tree of knowledge, and as a result of our actions there is a judgment day coming for us all. We are all energy sinners, doomed to die, unless we seek salvation, which is now called sustainability. Sustainability is salvation in the church of the environment. Just as organic food is its communion, that pesticide-free wafer that the right people with the right beliefs, imbibe. Eden, the fall of man, the loss of grace, and the coming doomsday---these are deeply held mythic structures. They are profoundly conservative beliefs. They may even be hard-wired in the brain, for all I know. “
fun·da·men·tal·ism: Usually a religious movement or point of view characterized by a return to fundamental principles, by rigid adherence to those principles, and often by intolerance of other views. - This definition reinforces what we have already learned about religious fundamentalists, they have no perspective on themselves and they are incapable of entertaining reasoned arguments antithetical to their belief, because beliefs of a religion are not dependent on facts, but rather are matters of faith.
When one analyzes fundamental environmentalism with this understanding it explains a lot of their behavior. This Neo-Pagan movement consistently buys the freshest red herring doomsday scenario put forth then supports it with agenda driven convoluted distortions of fact and lies. They then march forward with disingenuous arguments to support their red herring agenda because their faith encourages rationalization that trumps ethics to reach their means to an end.
Fundamentalist environmentalists profess their beliefs much like the recent outrages from fundamentalist Christian Pat Robertson’s, from their heart but often with nothing at all to back it up but their conviction and faith. In our modern complex world, fundamentalism is dangerous because of its rigidity and its imperviousness to other ideas and its aversion to reasoned dialog. Making a reasoned argument to a Fundamentalist Environmentalist to harvest any of earth’s recourses is akin to asking a Christian to give up Jesus.
Eco-extremist Herb Hammond has said: "Of all the components of the ecosystem, humans are the only ones we know to be completely optional".
bump...
Great article.
bttt
Yes... the war against Genesis...
I saw one flaw though...
Consider the seemingly coincidental circumstance that Diana is also the name of a pagan Greek goddess, and idolatry. The figurative deification of Princess Diana and the massive outpouring of public grief are a form of civil worship. The heaping of flowers at Kensington Palace as if it were a shrine, melodramatic eulogizing and the political expressions of how the world should comply with her posthumous intent concerning certain issues is a modern use of idolatry. Royalty magazine, in a special edition, had a large drop quote spanning across two pages: "She needed no royal title… to generate her particular brand of magic." The whole magazine is about pet Leftist political causes mixed in with the pictures and soliloquy about her sainthood. A Golden Calf.
This idolatry also partly played into the modern conflict of pagan vs. Judaic concerning her billionaire playboy lover, Dodi Al Fayed. Although many consider Islamic belief to be of Judaic origin, it is pagan. The crescent symbolizing Islam was also used to symbolize the pagan goddesses (Diana, Isis, etc.) and used by modern neo-pagan nut cases as an icon. The use of the bedrock at the Dome of the Rock and the meteorite at the Kaaba as an excuse to label it an Islamic holy site, is idolatry. The three goddesses, daughters of Allah, are also contrary to the idea that Muslim faith is monotheistic.
Ping for later reference..
Ping to read later
I'm totally with you, re Islam. Totally pagan. Belloc considers it one of the Great Heresies.
God is supranatural, meaning "above nature" (I do not use the more common term "supernatural" because it is less precise and conjures up irrationality). This is why Genesis, the Bible's first book, opens with, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" in a world in which nearly all people worshipped nature, the Bible's intention was to emphasize that nature is utterly subservient to God who made it. Obviously, therefore, God is not a part of nature, and nature is not God.
As long as it wasn't something to the effect of "brother earth", in the fashion of St. Francis of Assisi, who considered all creation as our "brothers" in that God created us all. "Mother", that's a bit too much...
Regards
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