Continuation of Cult of Climate Change
97% of astrologers agree: stars are real, and affecting people all over the world.
Climate alarmism has been called a cult or religion many times by respectable scientists (including Nobel Laureate Ivar Giaever and NAS member physicist Richard Lindzen) and elected officials (US Senators Inhofe, Cruz, and Congressman Lamar Smith). Nevertheless, some smart people still do not take such a definition seriously, considering it a metaphor or a stretch. Now I understand why.
They compare the climate cult with modern religions as they are understood and practiced by Western people now. But the climate cult is more comparable to medieval or even ancient religious practices, not modern ones! In fact, the word ‘religion’ in its contemporary meaning came into wide usage in Europe only after the Reformation. People started understanding that their neighbors had faith different than theirs and practiced it differently, without being inferior.
Before the Reformation, each nation in Europe (for example) knew only one ecclesiastical tradition and had only one ecclesiastical authority. Its words were accepted as the only truth on the matter. Anybody disagreeing was considered ignorant at best, and in league with the devil at worst. In the eyes of the authorities, an ignorant person was to be educated or not allowed to speak publicly. The devil associates were prosecuted, and possibly burnt at the stake (when flesh burns it is being decarbonized – a connection to the modern climatist jargon).
The climate cult espouses the same logic. Their imaginary scientific consensus is the only allowed opinion on the subject. IPCC assessments and their interpretations by the likes of Greenpeace are their holy texts. Alarmists likewise divide the skeptics into the ignorant ones (see Obama’s “flat earth society” remark) and those in league with the devil. The former should not be allowed to speak publicly, and the latter should be prosecuted. Demo Party politicians, journalists, academics, and “climate scientists” call to prosecute skeptics so frequently that it is boring. This article by an Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Rochester Institute of Technology, who declares research interests in “ethical theory, and applied ethics, social and political philosophy, and scientific skepticism” [author’s emphasis] is just one example.
For the alarmists, the devil is usually “fossil fuel interests.” Notice that the devil is described broadly and vaguely. Most of the energy and manufacturing industries can be labeled “fossil fuels interests”—not surprisingly, given that energy use is essential to any society, and that most of the energy in this country is supplied by fossil fuels. And, you know, the devil is very powerful. He is everywhere, can take many shapes and forms, and can deceive even true believers. Therefore, the connection with the devil need not to be proven: a true believer knows it when he sees one.
If there is any doubt, a skeptic who comes within three degrees of separation from “fossil fuel interests” is certainly associated with the devil. (But the true believers, of course, can accept hundreds of millions of dollars from oil companies and countries without any blemish.) What if a skeptic does not come within three degrees of separation? No problem. If the holy climate warriors have not found that a particular skeptic or skeptical organization received the devil’s money, it is an even worse crime. That just proves that these skeptics had received “dark money”! See the original “research” in Climatic Change, and propaganda articles in Scientific American (which is neither scientific nor American, by the way), the Washington Post, phys.org, the Drexel University website, and many other places. Not accidentally, the fossil fuels are extracted from underground, supposedly the devil’s domain. It is spine-chilling that such medieval fanaticism can get so much traction in the world of modern technologies.
Al Gore, the lay leader of the climate cult, is an interesting specimen himself. He is the epitome of the 19th century caricatures of a religious zealot. He used to score very high on IQ tests, according to all public information. But his academic records show a complete incapacity to understand mathematics, physics, and other natural sciences, starting with high school and lasting through his Harvard University studies. Such an unusual combination creates an impression of some cognitive impairment, a “science comprehension disability.” But he demonstrated zeal and success in religious studies, from high school through Vanderbilt Divinity School (until he became a reporter). Again, a very unusual combination for a leftist politician of 1970’s. (Sources: 1, 2, 3)
It is time to recognize the climate cult for what it is, and to take notice of how it is being imposed as the state religion, in violation of the Constitution, and of all applicable laws and oaths.
William Happer, Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor of Physics Princeton University: “Sometimes the obsession for control of the climate got a bit out of hand, as in the Aztec state, where the local scientific/religious establishment of the year 1500 had long since announced that the debate was over and that at least 20,000 human sacrifices a year were needed to keep the sun moving, the rain falling, and to stop climate change.“ (William Happer, Testimony to US Senate Environment & Public Works Committee, 2009)
In 2006, one Catholic Cardinal said: “In the past, pagans sacrificed animals and even humans in vain attempts to placate capricious and cruel gods. Today they demand a reduction in CO2 emissions”. It went worse since 2006.
See essay by Christopher Monckton for one more explanation.