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I do not understand?

Leumas

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Whether global warming is caused by man or by a natural cycle or other causes; whether it is occurring or not is a subject for discussion and it seems science can verify the facts with scientific investigation and instrumentation.

But my puzzlement is over why is it that Fundamentalist Christians should be so obstinately and turgidly opposed to that it is even happening??

Why should this issue be of such passionate importance for them one way or the other and why try to deny it with a similar preemptive rejection of epistemology as they apply to their faith?

How is it in anyway related to or impacts upon their dogma? I am intrigued?

It seems to me that the more fundamentalist a person is the more s/he is ADAMANT that Global Warming is a hoax perpetrated by secularists let alone that it is caused or not by nature.

Why are they so fanatical about it and in what way does it detriment their faith?
 
Leumas said:
Whether global warming is caused by man or by a natural cycle or other causes; whether it is occurring or not is a subject for discussion and it seems science can verify the facts with scientific investigation and instrumentation.

But my puzzlement is over why is it that Fundamentalist Christians should be so obstinately and turgidly opposed to that it is even happening??

Why should this issue be of such passionate importance for them one way or the other and why try to deny it with a similar preemptive rejection of epistemology as they apply to their faith?

How is it in anyway related to or impacts upon their dogma? I am intrigued?

It seems to me that the more fundamentalist a person is the more s/he is ADAMANT that Global Warming is a hoax perpetrated by secularists let alone that it is caused or not by nature.

Why are they so fanatical about it and in what way does it detriment their faith?
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Destroying the world is God's job, so it's a demarcation issue. But since God never signed up for the union, He's out of luck.
 
I think it's a political issue. Jesus, free markets, and anti-science are simply too intertwined in this country for my taste.
 
I think it's also to do with the idea that God has put everything in the world there for mankind to exploit. Trying to conserve stuff kind of goes against this. And add the perennial Christian belief that the end of the world is just around the corner, so even if global warming is happening, it doesn't matter.
 
Mojo said:
I think it's also to do with the idea that God has put everything in the world there for mankind to exploit. Trying to conserve stuff kind of goes against this. And add the perennial Christian belief that the end of the world is just around the corner, so even if global warming is happening, it doesn't matter.
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I don't know, I still think it's more a matter of politics.


I was raised a liberal Christian in Massachusetts. I was taught that God gave man dominion over earth - but in the sense that we were supposed to be good stewards over the earth and take care of it - not like "here you go, it's yours, do whatever you want with it." There also was never an emphasis on end time theology, never mind the idea that this theology justified ignoring environmental concerns.

In my experience, Christians from red communities generally don't believe in it, Christians from blue communities do. Christians from red community tend to view the idea of man's dominion as meaning Earth is our personal playground to do whatever we want, Christians from blue communities tend to view it in terms of man's responsibility towards the earth. Even within the same denomination of Christianity, the belief or non belief in global warming/ environmentalism differs depending on what political afflilation of the community the Church comes from.

And example here is that there is a group of Evangelicals - the Sojourners, who are very active in my area, but they believe in both global warming and in general the concept that humans have a responsibility to take care of the Earth and environment.
 
I think it has to do with who funds the major publishers and broadcasters in the American fundamentalist Christian movement.
 
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The numbers of AGW deniers, and their virulence, does seem to be much more in the area of politics rather than being skeptical of the science.
The right wing types (primarily) who are deniers see the whole thing as a liberal plot to somehow deprive them of their SUVs and "dualie" pickups, while at the same time destroying America's economy.
Why the liberals would wish to do such a thing is never particularly explained....
 
1) Scientists are engaging in a worldwide conspiracy to hide the age of the Earth and the divine nature of the origins of life. Folks as pathologically unethical as that would have no trouble telling lies about the Earth.

1a) GW scientists claim to look at ice cores to identify climate variations in prehistoric times but there are no prehistoric times: the Earth is only 6000 years old.

2) Al Gore is making money off of Global Warming therefore it must be a scam.

3) Environmentalism is antithetical to Christianity because environmentalists put the Earth ahead of humanity. They worship the Earth and place it ahead of God. I think that one is my favorite.

4) God loves us and would not harm us by changing the planet in this manner.



............
ETA: I am not making these up. I have heard these things on talk radio and on the internet.
 
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Ladewig said:
1) ...

4) God loves us and would not harm us by changing the planet in this manner.



............
ETA: I am not making these up. I have heard these things on talk radio and on the internet.
Click to expand...
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He did say no more mass extinction by flood, so the rising sea levels aren't to be feared.
.
Although if rainbows disappear during rain storms, he could have reneged on that.
He's known for that.
 
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Mojo said:
I think it's also to do with the idea that God has put everything in the world there for mankind to exploit. Trying to conserve stuff kind of goes against this. And add the perennial Christian belief that the end of the world is just around the corner, so even if global warming is happening, it doesn't matter.
Click to expand...

Actually you have a point. Conservation is not a part of biblical doctrine. Mankind would have to yield himself and become equal to it, not supreme over it. I can see your logic.
 
Leumas said:
But my puzzlement is over why is it that Fundamentalist Christians should be so obstinately and turgidly opposed to that it is even happening??
Click to expand...
Here in the US, evangelical Christians are synonymous with the right. Right-wing Christians will usually rally very strongly behind free market capitalism and accumulation of physical wealth, the most vocal opponents of welfare and public healthcare, the most vocal proponents war. I think all of these views would be completely alien to Jesus if he were alive today.

So, right-wingers oppose climate science because left-wingers support it. Its all about opposing the other guy, no matter what they say, right or wrong.

If instead environmentalism became part of right-wing ideology, right-wing Christians would accept it as a clear and obvious scientific truth, some would even rationalize global warming as punishment from God (no different from the way they rationalize hurricanes and earthquakes).

If the LGBT rights were not a "liberal" ideology, you would find Christians ignoring those parts of the bible in exactly the same way they ignore prohibitions on divorce and women with short hair. They would insist that LGBT are created intentionally by God, as part of his divine plan; and yes, I am quite sure atheists would rationalize arguments against gay rights on the basis that its counter-evolutionary or equally bad argument.

-----------

So, the trick is understanding that politics and prejudices drive religious beliefs, not the other way around.
 
Dessi said:
<snip>and yes, I am quite sure atheists would rationalize arguments against gay rights on the basis that its counter-evolutionary or equally bad argument.</snip>
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Really? Not all people in real life think black and white like this, you know.
 
Leumas said:
Whether global warming is caused by man or by a natural cycle or other causes; whether it is occurring or not is a subject for discussion and it seems science can verify the facts with scientific investigation and instrumentation.

But my puzzlement is over why is it that Fundamentalist Christians should be so obstinately and turgidly opposed to that it is even happening??

Why should this issue be of such passionate importance for them one way or the other and why try to deny it with a similar preemptive rejection of epistemology as they apply to their faith?

How is it in anyway related to or impacts upon their dogma? I am intrigued?

It seems to me that the more fundamentalist a person is the more s/he is ADAMANT that Global Warming is a hoax perpetrated by secularists let alone that it is caused or not by nature.

Why are they so fanatical about it and in what way does it detriment their faith?
Click to expand...

The best explanation I got one time, IMHO, was that fundamentalist Christian in the US expect the rapture in their lifetime. At worst ecology, global warming pushing that away is seen as going agaisnt the work or god (world) , or at best as useless since earth will be left to non-Christian during the tribulation and non Christian did not "earn" to get a pristine earth so they can pollute as much as they want.
 
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