The end is near again for climate crazies
Global warming alarmism has been characterized as a cult. A close look suggests the movement is just another example of apocalypticism absent the intervention of God.
There is something hard wired in the human mind that seeks the end of the earth. Such stories in antiquity go back to the Sumerian version of the flood later adopted into the Old Testament featuring Noah.
Yet guilt goes back even further than that, all the way to the Tree of Knowledge, the snake and the trusting First Woman of legend.
The best way to absolve guilt is by destroying the world, it seems. One basic problem is that these predictions of the apocalypse do not pan out. The Old Testament is full of such failures of prophecy. Even the Dead See Scrolls document a failed Messianic prediction. And Zoroastrianism, the ancient Persian faith, probably can be credited with injecting the dualistic notion of God and the Devil into western philosophy, providing an excuse for evil.
The Gospel of Matthew and the later Nicene Creed predict the return of Jesus Christ to judge the sinners and reward the faithful. And for scary one cannot top John and Revelations, the last book in the Christian Bible.
Today the Second Coming is dogma and even considered today by some religious groups as being preceded by the Rapture when the righteous are bodily assumed into heaven before great tribulation on earth. The 1995 book and 2014 film “Left Behind” are based on this prediction and are very popular among certain faiths.
Christians are not unique. Many cultures believed the only way to keep the wrath of the gods at bay was with sacrifice, perhaps the human kind. In addition, themes of apocalypse can be found in many cultures worldwide, including among certain Native American tribes.
Humans should be more resilient because nearly every child has heard of Chicken Little, a folk tale dated at least to the early 18th century, and probably a lot older.
The term Chicken Little has become almost synonymous with alarmism with the term being used to describe people who needlessly stoke fear among people, according to Oliver Tearle, a professor at Loughborough University in Leicestershire, England. The tale features Chicken Little becoming alarmed when hit on the head by an acorn. The chicken manages to convince other animals, Henny Penny, Goosey Loosey, Ducky Lucky and Turkey Lurkey, into believing the sky is falling. Foxy Loxy, a false ally, tricks them all into becoming dinner.
Tearle in the Interesting Literature website summarizes the moral messages as: 1) don’t form incorrect conclusions from insufficient data; 2) don’t stoke fear in others without good cause to do so; and 3) don’t take other people’s word for things, especially when those other people are making extraordinary claims (which should require extraordinary evidence).
The same could be said about those promoting the global warming theory that tiny bits of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere control the earth’s temperature far more than a giant nuclear fusion furnace 93 million miles distant.
Even recent history shows humans easily accept extraordinary claims. Matthew Avery Sutton, a Washington State University professor, writes an excellent comprehensive summary of such movements in the Oxford Research Encyclopedias.
He points out that many religious groups were founded in anticipation of an apocalypse. They include the Shakers, Universal Friends, Latter-day Saints and the Billy Graham crusades. He notes that the Seventh-day Adventists were founded by William Miller, who predicted Jesus would return in 1843 and, when that did not happen, some months later in 1844. He also cites non-Christian movements such as the Ghost Dance of Sioux warriors.
Jim Jones, he of 1978 Peoples Temple and Guyana Kool-Aid infamy, is on the list. Jones grew up in the Disciples of Christ, and the faith-healing aspects of the pentecostal movement also influenced him, Sutton noted, also citing David Koresh, who grew up in the Seventh-day Adventist tradition, but in the early 1980s left the church to join the Branch Davidians, victims of the tragedy at their Waco, Texas, compound Feb. 28, 1993.
Maybe the principal actor is not God but aliens. That was the theme of the long-running Heaven’s Gate cult that resulted in the suicide of 39 adherents in 1997. They expected to be transported to paradise by an alien spacecraft associated with the Hale-Bopp comet
If one removed the wrath of God from prophecies of apocalypse, one simply can insert Mother Nature, instead of aliens. That seems to be the non-sectarian deity being worshiped by the global warming extremists. There even are climate prophets, such as Al Gore, Greta Thunberg, Michael Mann, the U.N.’s António Guterres and a host of lesser luminaries.
Godless alarmism seems to have evolved in the late 20th century. Consider the Y2K movement in which the media amplified the belief that a change in date would dumbfound important computer systems and push the world back to the Stone Age.
In fact, the media has been a driving force in promoting the global warming theory. Every prediction of disaster is splashed in the newspages and websites. Some reporters have built careers on tailoring academic publications into scary headlines. Academics and the peer review process have silenced many voices of reason on the topic. Universities and professors do not generate large amounts of grant money by saying all is right with the world.
Certainly some in government have taken advantage of the panic with power grabs, large grants for favored supporters, carbon taxes, subsidies for alternate energy and reelection strategies.
There have been some voices pointing out that the emperor has no clothes, or more formally that extraordinary evidence does not exist. These voices have not had much impact, in part because major media outlets ignore them and the sense of guilt for environmental sins runs high.
The sea continues to rise at a tiny rate as it has since the last global glacial maximum. Polar bears thrive, as do coral reefs. Arctic ice thaws and congeals with little change. World temperature, if it can be measured accurately, shows a small increase that cannot be directly tied to the carbon dioxide theory.
Like the evangelicals of the 19th century and even John of Revelations, the climate prophets are left without the global catastrophe they envision. Like their brethren, they fail to see they are part of at least a 5,000-year-long tradition of disaster mongering without any smoke, sulfur or fire to quench their guilt.
