Why the Christian agenda against global warming?
Offline i'm sorry if many of you feel this is an obvious question, but i've never quite grasped why it's so theologically important to christians in america that global warming be false (i'm thinking mainly of protestant fundies here). i mean, evolution is understandable, so is the big bang, but i can't think of any obvious scripture that global warming contradicts. anyone have any insight on this? i can't really go to the source because pretty much all christians in slovakia believe in global warming, that humans caused it, and that we need to do something about it.
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
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Only God can bring about the end of the world. That about sums it up.
Well.. more importantly, they think we're trying to slow (or prevent) the end of the world which they very much are looking forward to.
global warming is not the end of the world. The world will still exist and in all likelihood so will we! Our lives will just become very unpleasant.... oooo and lots of people will die if it gets bad enough but the world will not end
Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
No animal shall wear clothes.
No animal shall sleep in a bed.
No animal shall drink alcohol.
No animal shall kill any other animal.
All animals are equal.
Ummm. *I* know that, but I'm talking about what *Christians* believe.
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see, i don't get that. that's just too ambiguous a reason for fundies. they always have an army of random verses lined up to explain anything. then again, i've never heard them use a single verse against global warming.
besides, couldn't global warming be one of their "signs of the times"? couldn't god work through global warming to end the world? i mean, christian eschatology in general usually posits that the world will end in some fiery way. i even recall reading about some young girls, i believe in italy about a hundred years ago, who claimed to have received visions from the virgin mary about the end of the world and that it would end in some sort of "great heat."
this just really doesn't seem like enough to explain their unanimous and venomous opposition to this theory.
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
Ummm. *I* know that, but I'm talking about why these *Christians* who believe that are being stupid.
Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
No animal shall wear clothes.
No animal shall sleep in a bed.
No animal shall drink alcohol.
No animal shall kill any other animal.
All animals are equal.
For fundies it is a problem because they view the bible literally. Man-made global warming contradicts the book of Revelations, and by implication, the idea that only Jesus' return can signal the end of the world. They have a vested interest in the idea that humans cannot make such globally catastrophic changes to the planet. Only God can. If that's contradicted, then Jesus' return is a flawed prophecy. They can't have that, so they must deny anthropogenic global warming. It's classic denial.
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Not if it's caused by humans. That's the point they can't accept.
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i don't necessarily doubt you, but do you have a source? an article or video or anecdote or anything? i've wanted to hear a fundy give a clear explanation of this for so long, because all i've ever encountered are bad preacher jokes and the typical refrain of "if you believe in this, you're an idiot," that i'd relish anything. i'd specifically like to see or hear something where they use verses, since they use verses for almost everything else, and i'd like to investigate those verses myself to see if their exegesis is bogus or not.
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
Admittedly, they are hard to find direct admissions. It's like intelligent design, where they try to focus on the 'holes' in the science instead of admitting it's based on a superstition. However, I've heard references about god being the one who's going to end it several times over the years. Here's the best example I could find via google (garish colours removed):
It seems "2 Peter 3" is a very common bible chapter reference, and there are various verses in there that talk about god burning up the planet. But it's god doing it, not people.
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based on the belief that humans can't impact at a global level only god can. There's a timeline with the rapture and jesus coming back to play tiddlywinks with the dalai lama and all sorts of fun things to look forward to.
My mum's parish magazine reads like a conspiracy theorists nightmare - seriously. All these 80-90 year old women are in uproar over the lies of scientists, their little paper full of
pseudo scientific pap downloaded from the internet talking about solar flares and the little ice age. I only recently got her to admit that not chopping down the entire amazon was a
nice idea. Mum, with typical insanity, believes the scientists make these things up so they can going on living their lives in their own way without acknowledging god! It's priceless.
"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck
Wait wait wait... do fundies believe in nuclear weapons then?
They probably believe that if nukes ended us it would be the word of god pushing the button.
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
I'm fully convinced that if man goes extinct it will be because of (fundamentalist) theist influence.
I never thought there were corners in my mind until I was told to stand in one.
I have learned so much, thanks for keeping it real RRS.
Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
No animal shall wear clothes.
No animal shall sleep in a bed.
No animal shall drink alcohol.
No animal shall kill any other animal.
All animals are equal.
I'm pretty sure it has to do with politics. The christian fundies in the states are the base of the right wing. Without them George W. would of never been president.
There is a reason that "good christian" and "conservative" go hand in hand for the fundies. Their ideal is to force social conservatism down everyone's throats, so everyone lives by THEIR values, and they see nothing wrong with that.
Since the right is openly married to anti-environmentalism and big business, it isn't hard to see that they would be vehemently opposed to anything that was conservationist in nature. They want to use and exploit, drill baby drill.
Global warming might get in the way of that. So, it is an issue of politics fused with religion. There is a reason they are called the religious right. Think about that next time you go to vote, and realize you are voting inside a megachurch where the pastor told everyone "God is watching you vote" after saying what is Holy and Just to vote for at the last sunday's sermon.
Theism is why we can't have nice things.
see, this is what i think, but in a way it disappoints me. usually fundies do their theological research pretty heavily--of course, they tend to use only one source and that source is utter shite, but still, it makes for long and funny debates for guys who were religion majors like me.
i agree they have such a vested interest in the bush administration and its legacy that they have to have a knee-jerk reaction to anything opposed to its policies AND they have to make a religious issue out of it. they just usually do such an elaborate job of making a religious issue out of it that this vague hemming and hawing is pathetic.
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
Well, look at the wingnut media sources. Fox News constantly has the issue of "War on Christmas", and they always bring up who is being a "good christian". Not to mention all the outrage over Pres. Obama possibly being a muslim.
They talked for days about how he didn't swear in using a bible. It's pretty transparent. Go to wingnutdaily and you see things like http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56545
Freepers are just as bad. Seriously, try to read that article with a straight face, and take it seriously. Try it.
I can't.
Theism is why we can't have nice things.