Why Should I Care About Religion?

You've heard it said ,many times, no doubt, perhaps even said it yourself- "What does it matter what a person believes?"

The extreme example is if you believe you are God and above the rest of the human race, it might get somewhat uncomfortable for the people around you.

But what about "normal" religious ideas? Surely it doesn't matter in a secular society what people believe?

The current debate about climate change is an example of how religious beliefs have slowly but surely eroded the values of Western society and now threaten a huge economic and cultural meltdown in the futile belief that humans are the cause of everything bad in our world.

The environmental movement is based on an ancient belief system called animism- the belief that every object (living or non-living) has its own spirit. The tree spirits are just as important as the human spirits and the greatest spirit of all is that of Gaia, the spirit of the earth.

Contrast this with the Judeo-Christian belief system that says that despite our flaws and sinful nature, human beings are infinitely precious to God and that He has entrusted to us the stewardship and on-going creative oversight of the world.

Environmentalists have a belief that man is inherently cancerous in the world and that the world would be far better off without us. If humans have to be on the planet they should live in subsistence agriculture with minimal impact on the planet (= earth-spirit Gaia).

Despite the increasing evidence that the current period of global warming is a natural cyclical event (just as the previous cycle just 30 years ago was a cooling cycle), they make the connection that all change is bad (even if it is natural) and that it is therefore created by human beings.

This plays out through the media- they saved koalas, whales and trees so therefore the environmentalists must be right about this. The simplified 15 second sound grabs ignore the complexity of the climate system, and the hysterical cries of "doom" feed into people's lounge-rooms every night. Most people have no scientific training to weigh the evidence, and in fact only get the side the media decide is the "right" side.

Because most people have lost faith in a God who is good and powerful and loving, they are easy victims to the merchants of fear.

So we have extremists like "Australian of the Year" Tim Flannery saying we should shut down the coal export industry- as if China will suddenly stop using coal in their power stations and change to solar just because they can't buy coal from us. Flannery thinks that it's better to throw hundreds of thousands of people out of work to appease the spirit of Gaia.

At the least we will have more expensive electricity and transportation, a much slower growing world economy and increased poverty. In a strange twist, it's more likely that nuclear power, the great bogeyman of enviro-zealots will take the place of coal in some places, including Australia.

And of course there is a strong link between economic improvement and environmental improvement over time. That is, as people become more wealthy they can afford to spend more to restore and preserve rivers, forests and other natural features.

So it really is vital what religious beliefs people and societies hold. It affects how we manage and respond to all kinds of challenges- at the personal and global levels!

Blessings

Keith
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