Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Finding Common Cause - Where There Should Not Be Any
I've been writing lately that Christians have a distinctly different view of creation that an environmentalist. So distinct, in fact, that I think it problematic for Christians to make common cause with environmentalists. This point was driven home to me by the juxtaposition of a couple of articles I ran into last week.
The first was this article out of the UK on recent environmentalist protests at power plants there. (HT: Greenie Watch)
The irony in this is amazing, and frightening. In large part, enviromentalists have avoided terrorist action, though environmental terrorism is real and has increasingly happened. It would not take much to push some of the activist groups over the edge. What would prevent the very smart Islamofascist terrorists from infiltrating these environmental groups and using them for their own purposes?
As Christians, do we want to find ourselves in a place where we share a worldview like this? As the "greening of Evangelicals" continues, I think we need to tread very carefully, very lightly, or we will find ourselves making common cause in places we should not find it.
Related Tags: environmentalism, Islamofascism, Christians, environment, worldview
The first was this article out of the UK on recent environmentalist protests at power plants there. (HT: Greenie Watch)
But there is something risky about this, even from the point of view of the environmental movement. Targeting electricity generation is not the same as taking on vivisection, nuclear power or genetically modified crops. By taking on coal-fired power stations environmentalists are now questioning the actual existing fabric of our energy infrastructure without which modern society cannot function. It is not so much fears of new technology that are driving the protests, but doubts about whether already-existing technology is a good thing.The other was this piece from the Washington Times reviewing the events of memorial for 9-11.
Electricity is an underrated marvel of the modern age. Our capacity to generate vast quantities of electrical energy has only really existed for a century or so. Electrification was the big advance of the early twentieth century in the modern economies of the world. We can easily forget how our lives are dominated by the easy availability of electricity. When there?s a power cut our lives pretty much grind to a standstill as people go in search of musty candles and hidden boxes of matches.
It is therefore unthinkable that we should turn the clock back to a time before the national grid. Yet this is what some eco-warriors are seriously considering. Of course, it would be unfair to say they have advocated the abandonment of electricity generation per se; they want us to turn to alternative sources of electrical energy. The government, too, wants to go down the alternative route. The decline of natural gas supplies has driven the government to consider new rounds of nuclear power stations ? which no serious green would agree to ? and an expansion of alternatives including wind farms and tidal power. [emphasis added]
After the stops in New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia, the president addressed the nation last night, reminding Americans that ever since the worst terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, the United States has been at war in "a struggle for civilization."My contention has been that that a Christian has a forward-looking redemptive view of creation and that environmentalists have a backward-looking destructive view. And now it seems that we find environmentalisst share the worldview in common with our Islamofascist/terrorist enemies. While they may arrive at this worldview by different ideological paths, that they arrive at the same place seems undeniable.
"America did not ask for this war, and every American wishes it were over. So do I. But the war is not over, and it will not be over until either we or the extremists emerge victorious," Mr. Bush said. "We are in a war that will set the course for this new century and determine the destiny of millions across the world." [emphasis added]
The irony in this is amazing, and frightening. In large part, enviromentalists have avoided terrorist action, though environmental terrorism is real and has increasingly happened. It would not take much to push some of the activist groups over the edge. What would prevent the very smart Islamofascist terrorists from infiltrating these environmental groups and using them for their own purposes?
As Christians, do we want to find ourselves in a place where we share a worldview like this? As the "greening of Evangelicals" continues, I think we need to tread very carefully, very lightly, or we will find ourselves making common cause in places we should not find it.
Related Tags: environmentalism, Islamofascism, Christians, environment, worldview
