Why the Christian Right is Suspicious of Global Warming and Environmentalism

Many self-identified liberals are left scratching their heads, wondering why Christian conservatives are suspicious of global warming claims and tend to be less than sympathetic with environmental movements. Many wonder why conservative Christians choose to take such a hard line view of environmentalism when the issue seemingly has little to do with Christian theology or morality. As a matter of fact, any effort to destroy God’s creation would seem to arouse the ire of the evangelical movement. As with most political issues, the issue of environmentalism is not so cut and dry. Believe it or not, where one stands on the environmental movement has everything to do with one’s spiritual belief system.

The History

In the early to mid 19^th century a new movement began in America called Transcendentalism. In 1836, Ralph Waldo Emerson published his ground breaking essay, “Nature,” which is considered to be the work that began the movement in America. This essay was not only a philosophy about the interconnectedness of nature and the earth as a whole; it was also a manifesto on free thought and intellectual freedom that lead to Emerson's revolutionary speech called, "The American Scholar" which was credited for the modern scholarly ideal and approach. Later, authors such Walt Whitman, and Henry David Thoreau joined this movement, and the American intellectual ideal was changed forever.

The transcendental philosophy borrows heavily from the Hindu and Buddhist idea of Brahma. Hindu, and its spin-off religions such as Buddhism, are called pantheistic faiths. Whereas the Christian idea of God is a personal being with whom a relationship is possible, the pantheistic view of god is impersonal. They believe god is an impersonal force that is part of every living thing. They believe humans are ignorant of their own divinity and life is nothing more than the pursuit to connect to Brahma, which is the idea of becoming one with everything.

From this philosophy, it is easy to see how the early transcendentalists, having borrowed heavily from the Hindu belief system, believed so strongly in the oneness of man and nature that they began the modern environmental movement. The movement is not about preserving God’s creation for the betterment of man. It is instead about preserving our shared life force in nature. In this philosophy, man is no different than nature in that he is the same in spiritual substance as every other living thing. Other pagan and earth religions share this belief. It is from these faiths that we get the terms, “Mother Nature” and, “Mother Earth.”

Transcendentalists were the original hippies. The movement is a romantic ideal of which nearly every professor at Ivy League and state universities fancies himself a disciple. The Beatles, Led Zepplin, and other artists of the Baby Boomer generation were heavily influenced by Hindu beliefs and made pilgrimages to India to find gurus to help them achieve enlightenment.

The conservative Christian environmentalist

The conservative Christian is an environmentalist by nature, and feels as strongly about protecting the environment as does his more liberal counterpart. The difference is that Christians believe that all of creation was created for man. The conservative Christian believes he has been given dominion (Gen. 1:26) over all living creatures and plants. We understand however that with dominion comes the responsibility of care. We believe that God has left the planet in our care and that we will be judged on how we care for it. While this view has the same goal of protecting the environment, the guiding philosophy is 180 degrees opposite of the guiding principles of the modern day environmental movement.

How Liberals can Gain Sympathy from Christian conservatives on the environment

Conservative Christians are not against environmental movements. We are just as sickened by mistreatment of the planet as the most ardent green peace member. We are just instantly turned off when the movement takes on a religious fervor. Even well respected scientists have noticed the religious tone of the movement.

If liberals want to gain support for environmental programs from the Christian Right, they have to change their entire vocabulary. Christians do not believe we are one spiritually with a fish, but we will fight for clean streams and waterways. Whether intentional or not, environmentalist have chosen poor vocabulary in attempting to popularize their movements. “One Earth” and “One Planet” are great slogans for those who have leanings towards a pantheistic viewpoint, but for the 82% of Americans, who at least identify with Christian ideals and heritage, those words are off putting. Instead, refer to the planet as “our inheritance” and “God’s creation” and you will see more Christians identify with the movement.

Links:

Emerson's "Nature"

http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=1233&pageno=7

Transcript of Emerson's Speech, "The American Scholar"

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=526142

Richard Lidzen, MIT environmental Scientist

www.cdfe.org/global_warming_religion.htm