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Monday, December 20, 2010

All Aboard the Crazy Train! Next Stop? Irony Junction.

This December, I've been writing happy posts about my attempts to have a greener, less consumerist Christmas.

Little did I know, I was making Jesus sad.

Because, according to a new video released by the Christian right's Cornwall Alliance, environmentalism is "the cult of the green dragon" and people need to be "rescued" from it.

The video is called "Resisting the Green Dragon." Here's the promo:



Have you stopped laughing yet? Exaggerations, lies, and bad science? Sounds like environmentalists ... oh wait. That actually sounds like ... the people who produced this video.

If you watch the extended promo on the website (which I did ... it's sort of like a car wreck. You know you shouldn't look, but you must look) they say that environmentalists want to CONTROL POPULATION GROWTH!! And then they show an ultrasound, so in case you didn't get the message, you realize: ENVIRONMENTALISTS WANT TO ABORT BABIES!!

They tell us that environmentalism is threatening the world's poorest people, and show a bunch of little brown children huddled around a spigot. ENVIRONMENTALISTS HATE POOR PEOPLE!! AND ARE PROBABLY RACIST!!

But worst of all, they say environmentalism is "deadly" to the gospel. ENVIRONMENTALISTS HATE JESUS!!

But you can figure out the real problem that these folks have with environmentalism when you watch this clip from Glenn Beck's show:



Yep.

The real reason to hate the green movement: Environmentalists don't want you to buy stuff.

Now, I don't talk much on here about faith or other serious personal matters, but the Jesus I know and love was this guy who said "And again I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." (Matt 19:24). He distrusted the powerful, and loved the prostitutes, thieves, and handicapped, seeing in their very distress the hope for their redemption. Whether you believe that he died for your sins, was a cool guy with some good ideas, or feel like he was the start of a whole lotta trouble, you've got to admit that the story of Jesus is the story of those who have the least - least stuff, least power, least hope.

That seems like a world view that aligns nicely with environmentalism: a view where we have to share, love others enough to sacrifice some of our comfort for them, where things are less important than people.

And yes, environmentalists tend to fall short because we judge others just as often as do the people of the Cornwall Alliance

I struggle not to judge the people that produced this video, and I fail. But at least I struggle.

** If you're interested in reading a Christian viewpoint opposing the Cornwall Alliance's, check out A Climate For Change.