Over the past fifty years the climate change movement has gained a lot of attention in both the media and politics. I care about the environment—our air, water, plants, and animals. But has the climate change movement gone beyond caring for the environment? Is it a religion?
D. Alan Dean posted a blog on Nov 18, 2019 that was his translation of an article by Giorgio Agamben titled “Sulla fine del mondo” or “On the End of the World.” Agamben argues that the climate change movement is, indeed, a religion:
…in modernity science has replaced faith and assumed a properly religious function… Science is, indeed, the religion of our time: it is that which men believe in. At the very least, it is that which they believe that they believe in.
Like any religion, the religion of science requires an eschatology. That is to say, it needs an apparatus to keep the faithful afraid, and so strengthen their faith, while also keeping a priestly class [i.e., scientists] in power. Apparitions like Greta Thunberg are symptomatic of this situation. Greta blindly believes in the prophecies, and so she awaits the end of the world in 2030… (see here).
Those who question apocalyptic prophecies are called climate deniers. Many Evangelicals reject the dire predictions of the end of the world and hence are viewed as dunderheads who are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good. We are charged with rejecting proven scientific facts.
The prophets of the climate change movement include leading scientists from major universities, as well as major politicians in the U.S. and from around the world.
In parts 2 & 3, I will discuss ways in which the climate change movement is both consistent and inconsistent with the Word of God.