Some of my family members have been on an email harassment campaign this past year. I guess it really began about 4 years ago when I renounced the Mormon Church and all 
religion in general. Then this year with the election of Obama and the further radicalization of the Christian conservative movement my dad and some of his siblings have grabbed hold of the notion (thanks to Fox News) that anyone who is not a conservative is a socialist or Marxist and that bombarding family members with their viewpoints via email, will change their minds. Sadly what it has really done is completely polarize our family and cause arguments and separation. We are now more than ever, a family divided…..conservative and liberal, Republican and Democrat, theist and non-theist, environmentalist and those waiting for the apocalypse.
My dad, the biggest offender of the email forwards, has been relentless and one of his “projects” has been to send me everything he and his family members and friends send him regarding political and religious views along with climate change and global warming. It’s interesting to read because they seem to feel that anything to do with saving the planet or the environment is just some liberal hoax. It appears they they do not feel the need for clean water or air. They seem so disconnected from this planet almost like they really live somewhere else and are just visitors here. As a matter of fact when I sent my parents a link to a very beautiful and moving video by Yann Arthus Bertrand called “Home” my dad’s response was “don’t send me this crap.”
I ‘m a little perplexed by this because I wonder at what point did taking care of this planet became synonymous with evil? When did the word environmentalist become a dirty word? When did even becomming environmentally conscious become part of a liberal agenda or something akin to being a devil worshipper? Why would someone like Al Gore, who clearly wants to help the environment, be demonized? Let me start by saying that while I have become more environmentally conscious, I am by no means someone who is doing their part for the environment. Oh I don’t buy water bottles anymore and I donate to a couple of causes but really, I am just beginning this journey to learning how to be a better citizen of this planet.
Lately though, when I listen to some conservatives like my father and his siblings talk about the planet and or people trying to save it from destruction I realize that their religious beliefs are in part to blame for their lack of concern for the only planet we have to live on. Mormons and other Christian religions have a messianic apocalyptic belief system which believes (with their own spin and variations) that God created the Earth for us to come down and be tested. He sent his son down to save us so we can come back “home” and live with him forever in paradise or Heaven. They believe that the forces of evil lead by Satan are fighting against the true believers in Christ. There are varying degrees in a Rapture type belief where the good will be lifted up into Heaven and evil will run amok. The last confrontation between good and evil will culminate in a final battle called Armageddon. Good will defeat evil and the Earth will have been destroyed. Mormons believe God will destroy Earth by fire (only people who pay tithes will be saved…..imagine that) and then remake it into Heaven where all of the good people will live. Other Christians believe, with their variations, that the Earth will simply not be relevant because it will have served it’s purpose as a testing ground for souls and after the resurrection we will all be living in our spirit home.
Now…..read that again and ask yourself….does this remotely sound sane? There is absolutely no proof or evidence ANYWHERE for ANY of this fantasy except for clairvoyants, mystics, individuals (who may or may not have been psychotic) who have claimed to be receiving messages from God, and ancient writings from people who believed in stoning virgins to death and that demons routinely possessed humans. So what we have is now is varying religious beliefs of a large proportion of the global population who feel that this planet…..our home…..is not very important because it is simply a “way station” of sorts until we can all go back to whatever Heaven our wacky belief system has invented.
The fact that so many people believe this way……individuals who run large corporations and governments…….men and women who make laws and policy…….should scare the hell out of us all. How can anyone possibly make rational and ethical decisions about our planet if they so casually disregard it’s importance to us as a species? How can we even contemplate entrusting our planet’s future to leaders who believe in a religious agenda that clearly does not believe the Earth should have a future other than what their God has planned and that God’s plan is to DESTROY it? Seriously…..does this not sound remotely deranged to anyone else but me?
Why aren’t more people talking about this? Why does religion get such a pass on insanity? An individual runs for president and says he has religious beliefs and people feel comforted somehow. Why? Why would feel feel comfort by someone who basically says they believe in a supernatural, unproven, and possibly dangerous ideology? Sadly, someone without these irrational beliefs could never have a chance of winning a higher political office. “Oh no, we could never vote for her she’s WAY too rational.”
So now we have the planet we live on…..THE ONLY PLANET we have access to I might add, in peril and a good percentage of the people on it and running it, believing it needs to be destroyed so we can all go to Heaven. Did you get that? There are millions of people out there who believe the Earth NEEDS TO AND WILL BE DESTROYED BY GOD! We are all worried about Muslim terrorists who want to destroy a building or plane or even country and yet we vote for people who relish the thought of Armageddon on our planet?
Now the question I have is this: If these people who believe in this apocalyptic vision for our planet want it to happen so that they can be Raptured or lifted up into Heaven really believe this (and they really do), what is to stop these leaders from making decisions based on their religious beliefs? Why make policies to help save the planet when you believe God’s plan is to destroy it? I know that if I owned a home that was scheduled for demolition the last thing I would be doing was spending money by building a new porch or fixing the septic tank.
My dad says, “None of this stuff about climate change or global warming has been proven to be completely correct. Someone might be making this all up.” Ok….let’s play Devil’s advocate here (even thought there is a plethora of evidence to support a great deal of this) that the evidence was not clear and there was a chance that the global warming theory was just that, a theory and was possibly not completely accurate…….ok, what if there is just a 50% chance that our planet is in complete peril and life as we know it could cease to exist on the level we have now….ARE YOU SERIOUS? Are you actually telling me that any percent chance of saving the ONLY planet we have to live on is not important? It’s not like we can move to another one if we screw up this one can we? If someone tells me there is a 50% chance my child will die unless I do something to stop it….am I going to do what I can to save her? Damn right I am. I am not going to sit around and say “Well, I am waiting till I have a 100% chance she will die before I do something.” This is my child and I would not care if it was a 5% chance she could die I would try EVERYTHING to make sure it didn’t.
Unfortunately…..we are leaving many of the decisions of saving the ONLY INHABITABLE PLANET WE HAVE to people with apocalyptic belief systems who are telling us “Unless we know 100% that it will be destroyed we don’t feel it’s important. This is part of the liberal agenda and all they want to do is talk about saving the planet when the rest of us know God has a special plan to destroy it so we can all go to Heaven.”
Perhaps global warming is not man made (although I have a hard time believing we don’t contrubute something to it with all of the crap we have put in the air) and maybe it is a natural event that occurs over the eons because we are on a planet that is constantly changing. Perhaps we can’t change it. Perhaps we need to focus on saving our oceans or the fact that water and oil are not renewable and WILL run out eventually. I am not a scientist and I certainly don’t have all of the answers but I do know that the answer cannot be to ignore a problem as big as the health and safety of the ONLY FREAKING PLANET we have to live on. Are you starting to get the picture?
The next time I vote for a candidate, I want someone who has a belief system based on science or at the very least, rational thought. I don’t want to vote for someone who is either willing to hasten the destruction of this planet with his ideology or turn his back on policies that might save the ONLY PLANET WE HAVE TO LIVE ON!At this time all I can do is hope that the men and women we have in office now will put aside their religious beliefs and use some common sense. If we screw this up, there is NO OTHER PLACE TO GO Like the t-shirt I received for Christmas says: “There Is No Planet B.”
