A Pagan Community Statement on the Environment

EcoPagan ^ | Earth Day 2015 | The Working Group

[walford]

Below is a link to a petition posted asking that Pagans sign regarding the environment.

As a Pagan who actually reveres Nature's Laws and Natural Law in governance, let me say that we are not a monolith; these people do NOT speak for all Pagans.

It is true that the neo-Pagan movement is dominated by the Hard Left. Hence, a High Priestess who participated in training/educated me un-friended me for posting a quote from Ayn Rand. Likely she would not have been so offended if the quote were instead by Mao, Marx, Che or some other Leftist asshole with blood on their hands. It is also true that none of my conservative connections here -- including many evangelicals -- have unfriended me for being a Pagan. By contrast, at least a dozen fellow Pagans have cut me off for being a conservative. As it is with feminists, ethnic advocates, LGBTQ leaders, they are Leftists first -- and everything else second. ---------------------- The petitions starts off with several paragraphs of vague platitudes about how wonderful the environment is and how we are dependent upon it.

But then, we get to their assessments of the causes and then their solutions: The cause is capitalism. The solution is government action to curb economic growth and reduce our population. The only way this could be accomplished is through a centralized government with powers well-beyond protecting freedom and human rights. Only a singular global regime that is unaccountable to the population could make this happen.

I am a conservationist, not an environmentalist. The latter considers homo sapiens to be a vermin on this Earth, so we should have our numbers reduced -- as well as our prosperity. A conservationist, by contrast, holds that we should not waste or pollute, because the resources are finite and, as the Planet's only sentient beings, we have responsibility to protect species that are vulnerable due to our activities. But our solutions actually are result-oriented and respect our freedoms. For Environmentalists, the solution is an end in itself -- control, control, control. When they complain about our growing population, only Westerners are to be subject for extermination. The far more prolific Third World is exempt.

"Sustainable, renewable" resources are of limited benefit. Organic farming, for example, results in less productive acreage. Pesticides are eschewed, so more of the crops are destroyed. Fertilizers are not used, so each plant is not as productive. And Genetically Modified crops are disdained, so the use of pesticides, excessive tillage are needed to make up for the losses.

And of course, the Anthropogenic Global Warming canard is freely dispensed as the Gospel. When I was coming of age, we were told that capitalist smog would blot out the Sun and create a new Ice Age. Then it became Global Warming. Most recently it is referred to as Climate Change so that no matter which way the thermometer goes, it can be blamed on capitalism, the United States and George W. Bush.

The fact that many polluting countries are exempt is telling. Also illuminating are the complaints about the President withdrawing from international Environmental agreements refer to a loss of monies that would have otherwise been distributed to corrupt Third World regimes.

[dasboot]

The second dude. I like him. We can coexist.

[Reily]

Can’t wait for the definitive statement on Global Warming from Delphi. I am sure it will be something pithy from Pythia.

[TigersEye]

Global warming caused by our emission of greenhouse gases...

That's #FakeScience.

Physicist Howard Hayden's one-letter disproof of global warming claims [pre-Climategate]

Dear Administrator Jackson:

I write in regard to the Proposed Endangerment and Cause or Contribute Findings for Greenhouse Gases Under Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act, Proposed Rule, 74 Fed. Reg. 18,886 (Apr. 24, 2009), the so-called "Endangerment Finding."

It has been often said that the "science is settled" on the issue of CO2 and climate. Let me put this claim to rest with a simple one-letter proof that it is false.

The letter is s, the one that changes model into models. If the science were settled, there would be precisely one model, and it would be in agreement with measurements.

Alternatively, one may ask which one of the twenty-some models settled the science so that all the rest could be discarded along with the research funds that have kept those models alive.

We can take this further. Not a single climate model predicted the current cooling phase. If the science were settled, the model (singular) would have predicted it.

(excerpted from Professor Hayden's letter to Lisa P. Jackson, Administrator Environmental Protection Agency. More at link.)

[Captain7seas]

“Global warming caused by our emission of greenhouse gases has already contributed to sea level rise, ocean acidification, and increased floods and droughts, “

Dag! I just head on Cnn that Miami has been abandoned.

[henkster]

I’m going to take a wild guess that the author of this “Eco Pagan” article does not live in a mud hut in the woods like a REAL pagan. Instead, he’s just another hypocrite like all the other global warming shills.

[mwilli20]

... but rather that we are part of Earth, just as a volcano or river is part of Earth and its cycles ...

If we are part of the Earth our actions cannot possibly harm the Earth any more than a volcano hurts it when it erupts, or a river when it overflows.

This statement is pure sophistry. Do not fall for it.

[onedoug]

Polytheism. Too many gods, competing with other gods, having sex with other gods, and humans....

Phooey!

[Hugh the Scot]

Shorter: crap outside.

[walford]

“Polytheism. Too many gods, competing with other gods, having sex with other gods, and humans...”

Really, do you want to go there? A god did it with a virgin mortal, resulting in a hybrid who was offered as a human/demigod sacrifice so that all who sinned afterward only need accept this story to attain salvation?

I don’t see that as being any different from the other stories that were developed in every tribe throughout human history to be able to connect with the Divine.

And let us remember that “pagan” [according to Webster’s] means any religion that is not based upon the God of Abraham [viz, Christianity, Judaism, Islam]. Every other religion that did not develop in a place where there is a lot of sand is invalid by definition.

So to attempt to characterize every Pagan religion that developed on every continent as some sort of theological monolith is beyond dishonest and myopic.

But for those who are interested in the actual truth, most Pagans believe that there is a One of which we are all a part. Then on the next layer down are the gods. They may have been fashioned and conjured by us. They may be expressions of the Almighty toward people at a certain place or time that they would accept as Divine.

The main difference between Pagans and Abrahamists is that we do not presume to pronounce Judgment upon another person’s immortal soul based upon whether our limited vision of the Infinite is accepted. We do not to know the mind of the Almighty and consider ourselves tasked to carry out Divine Will when it comes to unbelievers.

We do not think that the Divine made a mistake in creating those who have different visions of the Infinite, so we must then rape, slaughter and pillage those who are deemed damned already in their disbelief.

[jmacusa]

Hitler was a pagan. So was Heinrich Himmler. Swell couple of guys, weren;t they?

[onedoug]

Old Testament for me, thanks.

“Sh’ma Yisrael: Adonai elohenu. Adonai echad.”

[kallisti]

Blessed be.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Paganism is a family of spiritual paths rooted in ancestral religions throughout the world and predating recorded history.

If their spiritual paths pre-date recorded history, how do they know what they are?

[walford]

“Hitler was a pagan. So was Heinrich Himmler. Swell couple of guys, weren;t they?”

That is the intellectually dishonest fallacy of Arguing from the Particular to the General.

There are far more Christians who have perpetrated atrocities on a grand, institutionalized scale — such as nearly every Medieval monarch, noble and clergy.

Nice try.

[walford]

Merry meet.

[walford]

“Paganism is a family of spiritual paths rooted in ancestral religions throughout the world and predating recorded history.

---

If their spiritual paths pre-date recorded history, how do they know what they are?”

Prehistoric artifacts of an obvious religious nature have been discovered on every continent. There was even a Neanderthal burial discovered that had objects of seeking Blessings for the deceased.

Every tribe has developed religion — and the first religions were Pagan. There is no evidence of any atheistic tribe surviving to leave progeny to the present. Hence, religion is essential to our survival.

[bert]

——Abrahamists——

Ahhh..... that is an interesting concept of amalgamation.

[antidisestablishment]

Couching your own ad-hominem in a rant against fallacy raises your gall from mere nerve to outright effrontery. The most shallow attempt at research proves your vitriolic lies as shallow as your understanding of history:

https://www.str.org/articles/the-real-murderers-atheism-or-christianity#.WWyiboUpBR4

Pay close attention to the part about individual behavior versus creed. Be careful not to overdose on fact. It’s dangerous for young minds to ingest too much truth at one sitting.

[Zionist Conspirator]

As a Pagan

Ugh!