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Bob Marks
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 Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 9:28 am Post subject: For those who doubt environmentalism is a religion. |
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| Quote: | Excerpt from "Goddess Earth, Exposing the Pagan Agenda in the Environmental Movement" by Samantha Smith
Gaia teaches that man has damaged or destroyed the fragile balance of nature. Disciples of Gaia believe that all living things on earth are interconnected (except man) and to damage or destroy even a tiny insect is to damage whole ecological systems. Such a premise was the basis for Vice President Al Gore's book, "Earth in the Balance."
Gaia worship is at the very heart of today's environmental policy. The Endangered Species Act, the United Nation's Biodiversity Treaty and the Presidents Council on Sustainable Development are all offspring of the Gaia hypothesis of saving "Mother Earth."
One of the prime spokesmen for the Gaia earth religion is Father Thomas Berry, a dissident Catholic priest and a leader of the Temple of Understanding, located in New York City. Father Berry contends that Christianity promotes "deep cultural pathology of human greed and addiction." He advocates that the earth is disintegrating and that Christianity is mostly to blame.
Father Berry believes that we are now entering an era of "earth consciousness" and he heralds a new era he calls the "Ecozoic Age" that will transcend God. Father Berry suggests that we will have to remove the idea that only humans are created in the likeness of God.
Father Berry says that "the world is being called to a new post-denominational, even post Christian, belief system that sees the earth as a living being - mythologically, as Gaia, Mother Earth - with mankind as her consciousness. Such worship of the universe is called "cosmolatry."
The Gaia Hypothesis, introduced by James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis (formerly, wife of Carl Sagan), is an ancient idea, presented in scientific-sounding language that makes it politically correct for the new age. The idea itself pre-dates the Christian era and even Greek mythology, from which the name Gaia was taken. The idea is rooted in ancient cultures and, until Lovelock, was generally known as "paganism."
There are three principles of paganism:
(1) animism - the belief that everything is imbued with a soul;
(2) polytheism - the belief that many gods exist and each one has a function to preside over various aspects of nature and life; and
(3) pantheism - the belief that all things, animate and inanimate, including the earth and humans are manifestations of God, that God is ALL: the universe is totally God.
The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, in New York City, is the seat of a bishop in the Anglican Church, one of the largest religious denominations in the world. From that spot, the Dean of the Cathedral, the very Rev. James Parks Morton, is translating Thomas Berry's "cosmology" into specific programs, rituals and institutions in order to spread the Gaia theology into mainstream Christianity.
One of those rituals is the "Feast of St. Francis" where elephants and camels and other animals are paraded down the aisle to the altar for a blessing, as others present bowls filled with compost and worms. Vice President Al Gore delivers a sermon in which he tells the congregation, "God is not separate from the Earth."
Such rituals are not limited to the New York Cathedral. The Episcopal Diocese of Kansas and the Stewardship Office of the Episcopal Church sponsored a celebration of Earth Day in April, 1995 that featured, among others, James Parks Morton, Thomas Berry, and Paul Winter, official musician of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Samantha Smith, author of "Goddess Earth," attended the affair and offered the following report:
"The gathering held at the Westin Crown Center Hotel, included a North American Native Indian praying to God, then praying to the Grandfather Spirit and to spirits of the Four Directions to bless the earth and oversee the conference. California Senator Tom Hayden, offered an Earth Day prayer, claiming the earth was speaking through him: 'On this Earth Day let us say an earth prayer and make an earth pledge. In the Bible "ruah" means both wind and spirit, so let us take time to breathe with the universe, connect with the earth and remember what we need to know and do. Celebrate that ancient spirits are born again in us, spirits of eagle vision, of coyote craft, of bear stewardship, of buffalo wisdom, of ancient goddesses, of druids, of native people, of Thoreau and Sitting Bull - born again and over again in John Muir and Rachel Carson and David Brower and Alice Walker.' Hayden then asked us to 'commit ourselves to carry the written word of Al Gore into official deeds.' Thomas Berry offered a prayer for the healing of the earth.
Gaia musician Paul Winter then entertained with his saxophone. He explained that he had gone into the Superior Forest and taped exchanges of howls between his saxophone and a wolf. With his sax, he demonstrated the sound. He then asked the audience to join him in a "Howl-le-lu-ia Chorus." He made a wolf sound, and nearly 200 Episcopalians from Kansas howled back, expressing their oneness with the wolf."
This is the theology - or cosmology - which underlies the National Religious Partnership for the Environment. These are the people who conceived the NREP, and these are the people who are creating the material that is being delivered to 67,300 churches in America - in an envelope labeled from the National Council of Churches. |
http://www.americanpolicy.org/un/thepaganroots.htm
Bob Marks |
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raybar
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Joined: 06 Dec 2006
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Location: Los Angeles
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| Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 10:12 am Post subject: Re: For those who doubt environmentalism is a religion. |
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| I hope you don't think every environmentalist is motivated by religion. I, for one, am an atheist and consider this gaia bullshit to be, well, bullshit. They have taken a simple and obvious notion - that the earth can be seen as a single system - added a lot of woowoo nonsense, and decided that they have something profound. A bit like feng shui which seems to have raised the art of arranging your furniture so that you don't trip over it into a religion. |
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Bob Marks
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| Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 10:32 am Post subject: Re: For those who doubt environmentalism is a religion. |
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| raybar wrote: | | I hope you don't think every environmentalist is motivated by religion. |
No Raybar, I do not think for one minute that every environmentalist is motivated by religion. But to quote G.B. Shaw, "The conversion of a savage to Christianity is the conversion of Christianity to savagery." The same could be said for environmentalism. What I see here is a danger for the whole environmental movement. The big problem is that every time this is pointed out, there are accusations that one is against having a decent environment. You haven't done that, but others have.
Of course I am for having a clean environment, but burning new homes, as the eco-terrorists have done, does not accomplish that. Nor did the banning of DDT spraying (a ban made for "environmental" reasons). Hundreds of thousands died from malaria as a direct result of that (I have posted supporting data previously).
You live in California. Remember the crisis over electric prices? Weren't there environmental laws passed about 20 or 30 years ago that made it difficult (if not impossible) to construct new electric plants anywhere in the state? Nuclear was too dangerous, coal was too dirty, and dams harmed environment. Look at the result.
A movement that cannot admit its own mistakes and criticizes anyone who points them out is well on its way to becoming a religion.
Bob Marks |
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MCAnswer
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Joined: 22 Jan 2007
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Location: Vienna, Austria
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| Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 11:48 am Post subject: Re: For those who doubt environmentalism is a religion. |
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| Bob Marks wrote: | | raybar wrote: | | I hope you don't think every environmentalist is motivated by religion. |
No Raybar, I do not think for one minute that every environmentalist is motivated by religion. |
Yet you are content to produce a threat with the title "For those who doubt environmentalism is a religion." Not "the beliefs of some environmentalists", but "environmentalism" i.e. the complete spectrum of environmentalist thought.
_________________
"The strategic adversary is fascism... the fascism in us all, in our heads and in our everyday behavior, the fascism that causes us to love power, to desire the very thing that dominates and exploits us." - Michel Foucault |
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Bob Marks
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| Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 1:59 pm Post subject: Re: For those who doubt environmentalism is a religion. |
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| MCAnswer wrote: | | Bob Marks wrote: | | raybar wrote: | | I hope you don't think every environmentalist is motivated by religion. |
No Raybar, I do not think for one minute that every environmentalist is motivated by religion. |
Yet you are content to produce a threat with the title "For those who doubt environmentalism is a religion." Not "the beliefs of some environmentalists", but "environmentalism" i.e. the complete spectrum of environmentalist thought. |
Yes. From the fact that environmentalism is becoming a religion, it does not follow that every environmentalist treats it like a religion. The failure of resonsible environmentalists to acknowledge this will damage the movement...and the world.
Bob Marks |
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Lily
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Joined: 11 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 5:02 pm Post subject: Re: For those who doubt environmentalism is a religion. |
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| Bob Marks wrote: |
A movement that cannot admit its own mistakes and criticizes anyone who points them out is well on its way to becoming a religion. |
Be careful, Bob. The same thing could be said about Atheism...or for that matter, any passionate cause...including Objectivism.
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Lily
If you're trying to drive me crazy---you're too late!!!! |
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Bob Marks
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| Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 7:15 pm Post subject: Re: For those who doubt environmentalism is a religion. |
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| Lily wrote: | | Bob Marks wrote: |
A movement that cannot admit its own mistakes and criticizes anyone who points them out is well on its way to becoming a religion. |
Be careful, Bob. The same thing could be said about Atheism...or for that matter, any passionate cause...including Objectivism. |
So? What I said is still true, and that's what really matters.
Bob Marks |
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Lily
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Joined: 11 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 7:28 pm Post subject: Re: For those who doubt environmentalism is a religion. |
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| Bob Marks wrote: | | Lily wrote: | | Bob Marks wrote: |
A movement that cannot admit its own mistakes and criticizes anyone who points them out is well on its way to becoming a religion. |
Be careful, Bob. The same thing could be said about Atheism...or for that matter, any passionate cause...including Objectivism. |
So? What I said is still true, and that's what really matters.
Bob Marks |
Okay, I'm glad you agree that Atheism is a religion and so is Objectivism.
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Lily
If you're trying to drive me crazy---you're too late!!!! |
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Bob Marks
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Location: Big Apple
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| Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2009 7:38 am Post subject: Re: For those who doubt environmentalism is a religion. |
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| Lily wrote: | | Bob Marks wrote: | | Lily wrote: | | Bob Marks wrote: |
A movement that cannot admit its own mistakes and criticizes anyone who points them out is well on its way to becoming a religion. |
Be careful, Bob. The same thing could be said about Atheism...or for that matter, any passionate cause...including Objectivism. |
So? What I said is still true, and that's what really matters.
Bob Marks |
Okay, I'm glad you agree that Atheism is a religion and so is Objectivism. |
No, I didn't "agree" to that at all. I merely pointed out that your comment is irrelevant.
Bob Marks |
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