Do you "gamble with the survivability of the planet" on the basis of your doubts about global warming? Then you're in danger of being warmed up globally - in hellfire! According to the Tablet, such gambling is "gravely sinful" and global warming denial is "morally wrong". (As we all know, if you die in a state of grave sin, you go straight down the 'ot place. - cf. CCC 1035)Tablet: Editorial, 10 March 2007 "Ethics of Global Warming" for those who get the print edition (I don't.) Article 9460 for online subscribers (I'm not.)
I was alerted to this fearful consequence of political incorrectness by an email I received with the text of a letter sent to the editor of Junkscience.com.
Dear JunkScience.com,More on global warming from JunkScience.com - "all the junk that's fit to debunk."
You may be interested to know that the Tablet, an "international Catholic weekly" of liberal bent, has declared that presuming against man-made global warming in favour of development is "gravely sinful", and that denial of global warming is "morally wrong"! And this is from a journal which regularly resists papal infallibility and attacks the Church for its condemnations of moral evils!
Yours,
Anthony Ozimic
London
Now I must compose an article setting out the arguments in favour of gradualism and proportionalism for global warming deniers. In a given life situation, global warming denial may be the only realistic option for a person trapped in the cycle of hypothesis, evidence, testing, peer review and re-evaluation. In their circumstances, surely, global warming denial can be seen as a step on the way to a fuller understanding of the environment?
14 comments:
If the Tablet think Global Warming is a Mortal Sin I am confirmed in my sceptisicsm.
While we are all obliged to respect His creation, the Tablet obviously feel He was somewhat lacking in wisdom in that sinful man can so easily destroy His creation.
From what I can see the only contant thing about the climate is that it varies all the time. If the earth is warming up it is His will and sheer monumental arrogance to presume like Canute, that we humans are so powerful we can alter the functioning of the universe. Besides which, the venerable Bede reported wine growing in Northumberland in his time, when er.. there were no cars, no power stations, no industrial CO2 emissions, shurely shome mishtake...
PS: I didnt think liberals belived in mortal sin? presumably they define mortal sin as the act of pointing out the lack of clothes on an emperor?
I don`t suppose any of us - even emminent scientists - know for certain WHY the globe is warming.. the evidence shows that it is. But I would like to share this with anyone who is interested. For about the last eighteen months, we (family) have formed a local carbon-watchers group. It does sound like a diet club, but bear with me.... and, after the initial first few meetings where we all learned tips from one another about how to get rid of paper/plastic/glass/shoes and how to use the car less and how to insulate your house better.. common sense topics.. it became clear that there was an underlying agenda. I would sum it up like this: the Post Christian Society, which remains largely left leaning and liberal, has NO expression except through the Green movement these days. The conversations we had in one anothers' living rooms (over houmous and pitta bread)about living simpler lives, would seamlessly merge into conversations about the Age of Aquarius, about the Mother Goddess Gaia, about globalisation and how Africa and China must be stopped from developing (???!!) at which point I er..... made my excuses and left. Central to these largley atheist and liberal getherings seemed to be the view that we on this planet are upsetting Mother Goddess Gaia and she is wreaking vengeance on us. Based purely on my own personal experience and understanding of the world around me.. I think the Green Movement has become a quasi-religious expression for those without any expression - i.e. pagans and atheists. And they are frighteningly self-righteous.
I think believing in Global Warming as the ultimate evil is idolatory.
G.K. Chesterton wrote:
"Idolatry is committed, not merely by setting up false gods, but also by setting up false devils; by making men afraid of war or alcohol, or economic law, when they should be afraid of spiritual corruption and cowardice."
Bernadette - I think that the examination of conscience in the Simple Prayer Book has been replaced by an examination of conscience on whether I have recycled, eaten 5 portions of fruit and vegetables, avoided saturated fat and carbonated drinks, and taken enough exercise.
Of course, all these things can be fine in their way, but the moral tone that is given to them is quite remarkable and seems to me a replacement for the sense of sin.
Fr Tim,yes, that`s a sharper way of summing it up. And I also think that too many journalists - perhaps looking for some kind of moral lead - are falling for it.
One can see this earth worship theme develop as there are calls for global rest days to give the planet a rest. Maybe the long gone peaceful quiet of Sunday, the Lord's day did have a spin off that we didnt realise in that the earth's systems did get a chance to recuperate from man's frenzied activities. Now that God has been abolished and Sunday is as frenzied as any day we shall see rest days imposed by the powers that be to honour mother earth. Maybe God was'nt so silly after all...?
regards, Ken
Keep in mind Gen 1:1-2:25, Ps 104 (103), Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2415-2418.
Keep in mind these words of Pope Benedict in his inaugural homily: ‘The pastor must be inspired by Christ’s holy zeal: for him it is not a matter of indifference that so many people are living in the desert. And there are so many kinds of desert. There is the desert of poverty, the desert of hunger and thirst, the desert of abandonment, of loneliness, of destroyed love. There is the desert of God’s darkness, the emptiness of souls no longer aware of their dignity or the goal of human life. The external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal deserts have become so vast. Therefore the earth’s treasures no longer serve to build God’s garden for all to live in, but they have been made to serve the powers of exploitation and destruction. The Church as a whole and all her Pastors, like Christ, must set out to lead people out of the desert, towards the place of life, towards friendship with the Son of God, towards the One who gives us life, and life in abundance’.
Like Bernadette, I’m uneasy with ‘Age of Aquarius spirituality’. We have to reclaim the heritage we have as Christians as responsible stewards of God’s creation, eg, the Benedictine development of agriculture in Europe. Louis Pasteur was an ardent Catholic who is still saving countless lives through his discoveries as a scientist. His scientific work and his concern for so many dying in childbirth was an expression of his Catholic faith.
Here in the Philippines we have floods in the cities every year when the rainy season begins because people throw rubbish into the dried-up streams during the dry season. Nearly 5,000 people died in a flash-flood in Ormoc City, Philippines, on 5 November 1991 probably caused by man-made blockages in the river and the denudation of the forest in the nearby mountains.
China’s current economic ‘development’ has come at an enormous cost already: the one-child policy that has led to countless abortions and to an imbalance in the ration between young men and women that will surely cause huge social problems in the near future.
All of these things have to do with a proper respect, as Christians, for God’s creation. Even today’s gospel about the barren fig tree is but one of many examples of Jesus using nature to teach us.
While it is easy to dismiss something because it appears in a publication we don’t like, we must be careful to respect the words of the Catechism, No 2415, ‘Use of the mineral, vegetable, and animal resources of the universe cannot be divorced from respect for moral imperatives’. The same paragraph reminds us of our obligations to ‘generations to come’ and ‘a religious respect for the integrity of creation’. God is still blessing us through the work of Louis Pasteur. God is still blessing the people of London through the efforts of all who tackled the problem of ‘smog’ a generation or two ago.
We as Catholics need to be proactive in this area and not to leave the field to ‘Aquarians’ or to some ‘Greens’ who promote abortion. Yet we can work with others, even if they don’t share our faith. The Holy See doesn’t hesitate to cooperate with Islamic states in defence of unborn children.
Fr Sean, thank you for taking the trouble to post such a thoughtful comment. Of course you are right about the importance of respect for creation. However, the specific question of "global warming" is one that is open to empirical research and discussion. The Tablet is effectively saying that no such discussion should take place. It is "fair game" for a little lampooning given that it has for so long opposed and undermined the Church's teaching on other moral issues.
The other thing is that here in England, there really is a new form of paganism which focusses on such matters as physical health and the environment, whilst increasingly moving towards the proscription of Catholic teaching.
But all that being said, you are perfectly right to insist on our remembering the duty of responsible stewardship. You have given me a conscience that I must post something serious about this question by way fo balance and your reflections will help me to do so.
I have just been looking at "Misyon" - may God bless your good work.
I agree with Fr Sean, about stewardship & Fr Tim also. Some of my children are scared out of their wits about 'global warming' so God only knows what they're telling them in school. i have to keep re-assuring them, that it's not definitively proved & that there is an over-reaction going on.
It does seem to be the new 'god' in thw way in which they have been so indoctrinated....just my thoughts...
That global warming is occuring at this particular time in the earths history is a fact. That it is caused by man-made CO2 emmissions is a lie of gigantic proportions.
I am a scientist by training and have long been sceptical about the so-called science behind all the facts fed to the public.
Channel 4 actually came out with a brilliant documentary just last week called the Global Warming Swindle. A fantastic piece of factual journalism - a great documentary for our time.
The IPCC (international quango for pushing the CO2 and we are responsible theories) was discredited for its bias and 'junk science'. Emminent professors and scientists from around the globe were interviewed and talked freely about the lies that are being perpetrated by governments on this issue and how they themselves were being virtually persecuted for holding beliefs against the man-made global warming PC propaganda.
It's big business - zillions of dollars. The environmental movements are almost religions in their zeal for mother earth, stop America (the great satan) from using oil to get rich, blah blah etc...
The developed countries are telling the developing countries Africa etc... you cannot use your own resources (oil Coal gas) for development because you'll emit too much CO2 - therefore use expensive and useless (for them) wind or solar power systems with which to develop your industry and infrastructure - what a joke. How can Africa build steel plants and produce marketable goods using a solar panel. It's immoral and shameful! This was said by a former director of Greenpeace - who jumped ship once he realised how militant and anti-scientific greenpeace was becoming.
Bottom line is that the earth is warmed by this massive orange ball in our solar system - the sun. The ice packs in the antarctic melt on a seasonal basis - satellite pictures show the expansion and contraction of the ice cap on a seasonal basis - funny how reporters only show the ice blocks falling into the sea as they melt. That makes new of course. The Japanese professor who runs the research station there laughed as he was being interviewed on the C4 programme saying how little attention journalists are paying to actual facts - 'they only want to film the ice melting and falling into the sea' he said.
The permafrost records over millions of years show that CO2 increase FOLLOWS global warming patterns with a lag of some 800 years. It's exactly the other way round as the 'junk scientists' would have us all believe. Human beings and CO2 emmissions are NOT responsible for global warming. It is nowhere near as important a 'greenhouse gas' as water vapour - or clouds whose production is directly influenced by solar flares, sun spots and the massive magnetic fields produced by the sun when it is particularly active.
The whole idea of global warming being caused by a man-made rise in CO2 which as a gas constitutes a tiny proportion of the make-up of the atmosphere, is a joke.
The science AGAINST global warming being caused by man and CO2 is sound and compelling but it is being suppressed.
That polar bears as a species have survived to this day through many instances of global temperature rise throughout history much higher than today shows how adaptable animal species as well as human beings are to the natural cycles on the wonderful and awesome planet which God has created for his creatures.
We need an open and honest debate about this issue. Don't be spoon fed by IPCC and their like.
That governments and worldwide 'green' organisations ignore the history of the earth's cyclic warming and cooling is not entirely surprising since they also ignore what modern history has taught us about the futility of war, etc.
I understand though that cows' flatulence creates more CO2 worldwide than all mankind's energy activities!
See the lillies of the fields .....
Do we still believe that the world will come to an end when God wants it to?
I would be interested if George has any idea why we are being peddled this lie, is it that various unscrupulous people are making a lot of money out of it or something worse,?
The whole of the channel 4 programme is available worldwide here (Fr Tim you might want to blog this):
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=9005566792811497638&q=global+warming+swindle
Anon,
Anyone who believes in God certainly believes that the world will end exactly when God wills it to end.
This is no way relieves us of our duties to steward His creation, and to enjoy its majesty and wonder.
I'm also going to die one day, but this doesn't relieve me of my duty to care for myself.
;)
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