The radical nature of the new Reformation was apparent at a conference on ``Greening the Churches'' held this fall at a major seminary. The religious service was led by Chief Standing Bear Wilks, who blew on a whistle made from eagle bone to ``call to the mother of the earth [and] the benevolent spirits.'' There was a very short reading from the Gospel of Matthew, and one from the gospel of ecologist/poet Wendell Barry. A hymn was sung in praise of eco-theologian John Cobb.
Key players in the conference belong to the National Religious Partnership for the Environment (NPRE), which launched a 10-year, $16 million initiative last May to ``assure that the next generation of religious leaders in America advance care for God's creation as a central priority for organized religion.'' Pastors are to instruct their congregations that they have a moral obligation to support the public policies advanced by the environmental movement (which include limiting human population and establishing ``sustainable development,'' which operationally means no development at all). Sermons condemning the use of ``fossil fuels''-which are essential to lift the Third World from poverty-are being distributed en masse.
While some church services will come to resemble an environmental rally, the environmentalist movement imitates many aspects of an evangelical crusade. David Brower, the most influential environmentalist of the past 50 years, executive director of the Sierra Club for 17 years and founder of Friends of the Earth, refers to his message as The Sermon. Human progress in the modern age is the Fall; the state of human depravity is now so great that human beings are a ``cancer'' on the earth. Unless the sinners of the earth overcome their ``addiction'' to growth, the ``last scramble for the last breath of air''-the environmental apocalypse-will be upon us.
Perhaps not coincidentally, the environmentalist movement is strongest in Germany, Scandinavia, and England, scene of the Christian Reformation-perhaps as a substitute for the faith the people have lost.
Father Robert Sirico sees radical environmentalism as a new Manichaeism-the ancient dualism that postulated a universe divided between darkness (the physical world) and light (spirituality). The Manichaean elite, The Perfect, were forbidden to eat meat or drink wine, to own property, to have a family, or to engage in any trade. They could eat only fruit that had fallen from the tree. Since they could not do any work, they were dependent upon their followers, The Hearers. While gathering fruit for their superiors, whom they worshipped on bended knee, The Hearers were supposed to feel constantly guilty about this necessary contact with the material forces of darkness. Remarkably, this sect engulfed a huge part of the world's population and constituted a threat to Christianity itself before it slowly died out.
The fundamental assumptions of the Manichaeans, new and old, are diametrically opposed to those of Western religion, which teaches the dominion of mankind in the created order; the separate nature of God and Creation; and the sanctity of human life and of the family. Manichaeans also challenge the legitimacy of the institutions upon which modern society depends: private ownership and free exchange, the structures that reward peaceful cooperation above violence and theft. Traditional moral norms as well as economic science validate these forms, Father Sirico believes; recognition of that fact is critical if religious organizations are to inoculate themselves against corrosive environmentalist influences.
Moralistic fervor, particularly in service of dogma that denies property rights and regards human life as intrinsically evil, leads inexorably to jihad, holy war. Note the lifestyle and writings of Theodore Kazinski, the ``Unabomber,'' which are imbued with passionate religious zeal, a conviction of moral superiority, and a belief that maiming and killing are justifiable in order to wipe out evil (civilization).
In the last four years, eco-terrorists have been known to launch at least 33 major acts of terrorism, with damage in excess of $28 million. The Earth Liberation Front proudly claimed responsibility for torching the regional headquarters of Boise Cascade in Monmouth, Oregon, and for destroying part of the Vail, Colorado, ski resort, causing $12 million in damage (Henry Lamb, WorldNetDaily, 1/8/2000).
Given the rhetoric of Earth First!, Kazinski, and others, the scenario of Tom Clancy in his thriller Rainbow Six is not altogether far-fetched. In the novel, an elite group plots to infect the entire world's human population (except for the chosen few, protected by Vaccine B) with a deadly virus, much of it transmitted in Vaccine A (which just happens to be available in the wake of a terrorist incident at the Olympics). In Clancy's novel, the Good Guys are in the FBI and the US military; in the real world, according to Lamb, there is a double standard for eco-terrorists.
There have been no arrests in incidents involving the Earth Liberation Front or the Animal Liberation Front. An FBI report ``profiling'' potential terrorists in Project Megiddo identifies Christians and opponents of global governance-but not those who share the ideology of the Unabomber.
Will the new century see widespread eco-terrorism-or a more-or-less peaceful overthrow of Western civilization, with the establishment of a new religion and new economic order? Mass casualties could result from either.
Or will we recognize the danger in time?
Last October, 25 prominent clergymen, theologians, economists, environmental scientists, and policy experts met under the auspices of the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty in West Cornwall, Connecticut. The purpose was to lay the intellectual groundwork for a scientifically sound, economically informed, and theologically coherent vision for environmental stewardship that attends to the demands of human well-being, in marked contrast to that of the burgeoning eco-spirituality movement. More than 100 religious leaders have signed the Cornwall Declaration, including James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Charles Colson of Prison Fellowship Ministries, Rabbi Daniel Lapin of Toward Tradition, and Father Richard John Neuhaus of First Things. Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant scholars are producing a series of monographs to articulate the principles more fully.
To receive a copy of the Cornwall Declaration, contact Michael Barkey at (616) 454-3080 or mbarkey@acton.org.
A draft agenda is enclosed for the 18th annual meeting of DDP at the San Francisco Airport Marriott June 30-July 2, 2000. Note the June 8 deadline for hotel reservations. Don't delay: send in your registration today! Plan to come on Friday, June 30, to take advantage of a group tour of the U.S.S. Hornet aircraft carrier, which also served as NASA's rescue ship for the moon missions.
America's foremost scientists will be on hand to provide intellectual ammunition against some of today's most dangerous fallacies: catastrophic human- caused global climate change; the linear no-threshold hypothesis of carcinogenesis; ozone depletion; and the population ``explosion.'' Discussions of national defense issues and practical civil defense are also on the agenda.
DDP, 1601 N. Tucson Blvd. Suite 9, Tucson, AZ 85716, (520)325-2680, www.oism.org/ddp.