Slaying the Green Dragon: Environmental Science Misinformation Linked to Religion
Chuck Doswell - 29 April 2011
RJ has invited me to offer my views on a topic that has recently caught
his attention: that is, an effort by a coalition between the
religious right and the christian nationalist party (CNP - aka the GOP)
to squash what they refer to as the Green Dragon.
The idea is that environmentalism, evolutionary science, and global
climate change science (as embodied in the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change, or IPCC) represent some sort of devil-inspired
“liberal” cabal to both bankrupt corporate America and simultaneously
to wage war on Christianity. It seems that some Christians
actually were embracing principles of environmentalism, including
efforts to mitigate the impacts of global climate change.
Faith-based environmentalism was a specter the CNP fears, as its
corporate sponsors would be inconvenienced by having to reduce their
massive profits in what many corporations have characterized as
draconian environmental policy changes.
Thus, we have the so-called “Cornwall Alliance”
led by E. Calvin Beisner who “… asserts that God has placed all of
nature at the disposal of humanity.” This is the classical
biblical notion known as dominionism:
that we humans have the god-given right to use or abuse the Earth to
any extent we choose. Dominionism has its roots in Genesis
1:26:
Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And
let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of
the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over
every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’
I suggest that our listeners might explore the Web for insights
regarding this partnership between politicians and religious
fanatics. I’m not going to use my time to make you all aware of
the dirty history of the Cornwall Alliance and its partners.
Rather, I want to comment on the attempt by the religious right to cast
environmentalism as an opponent to religious faith.
This alliance is both figuratively, and arguably literally, a match
made in heaven! It links the authoritarian principles of
religious faith with the most rapacious, cynical, and callous
political figures who are the beneficiaries of policies favoring
corporate America. George W. Bush was their perfect president,
combining born-again fundamentalism with a profound fondness for oil
money. Both the fundamentalist religious zealots and the CEO’s
ruining the American economy without apparent consequences share a
common cause in condemning policies clearly associated with the
so-called liberals. It’s those freethinkers we need to smash, and
the way to do it is to rouse the righteous in a jangling jihad against
anyone who dares to callenge the ascendancy of the deity and the
existing economic system. By the way, that economic system
actually is quite far from a truly “free” market. No, this
economy is about welfare for the rich, seemingly without concern for
what crimes they might perpetrate on the rest of us.
Freethinkers, in their tree-hugging and alarmist statements about
global climate change, might interrupt the gravy train that flows out
of the taxpayer’s pockets into corporate executive bank accounts. As
Watergate’s “Deep Throat” (FBI assistant director, Mark Felt) in the
movie All the President’s Men
admonished: “Follow the money.” From CEO coffers, the cash
flow enters the political arena on behalf of the CNPers, who not
coincidentally, are big supporters of privileges associated with
churches – notably, their tax-exempt status.
As I see it, the sad part of the situation is that this effort to
support global climate change denialism and eviscerate environmental
protection has harnessed science’s uncertainties against the
scientists. Since science makes no absolute claims, CNP
politicians can drag their feet over implementing any substantial
“green” policies – that is, anything that would favor the
environment. They claim to want to see more compelling scientific
results, but it’s just a stalling tactic. This is a cynical
manipulation by masters of obfuscating rhetoric to create doubts in the
minds of the under-educated American public about the science that
underlies environmentalism. Scientists always operate under
uncertainty and rarely, if ever, make absolute claims. Scientists
can be brushed aside by those whose biblical texts and political
cynicism make them bloated with unsubstantiated certainty about their
pseudo-scientific claims in opposition to the scientists. They
don’t hesitate to argue that they know, with biblical absolutism, what
is best for America. And the public seems inclined to believe
them to a degree that leaves freethinkers astonished.
Freethinkers can ask embarrassing questions, which makes them a target!
David Barton (Founder and president of WallBuilders – an organization
claiming to be "dedicated to presenting America's forgotten history and
heroes, with an emphasis on the moral, religious, and constitutional
foundation on which America was built." – a thinly-disguised
fundamentalist christian organization) accuses scientists of ignoring
anything that does not support their worldview and manipulating data to
support it, while complaining that it is all a plot to increase
government control and play God. This is the most astounding case
of the pot calling the kettle black I’ve ever seen! It’s the
religious right and their corporate partners who are manipulating the
truth to support their worldview. It’s they who claim to know
absolute truth. And yes, they seem to be acting as if they are
implementing the will of their almighty deity. They’re
narcissistic to an extreme, and their rhetoric projects their very own
flaws onto their opponents.
In a society dominated by christians, this collaboration between the
religious right and their political representatives to link
environmentalism with atheism is disturbing. If we as Americans
allow this to prevent implementing environmentalist policies, we’re
going to deserve what happens to us as a consequence!