"Evangelicals feel besieged by the culture at large," Ball said. "They don't know many environmentalists, but they have the idea they are pretty weird -- with strange liberal, pantheist views."Hopefully they'll start talking, because this is another one of those very important common grounds that ought to be recognized. The article doesn't say anything about reluctance of actual liberal environmentalist organizations to work with the Christian Right in this area -- I hope that's because there isn't such reluctance. If there is, then my message to the Left is the same as my message to the Right: get over it.
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Evangelical Environmentalists
Here is a very interesting article on a growing movement in the Christian Right toward environmentalism. I find it especially noteworthy how reluctant the pro-environment Christians are to describe themselves as "environmentalists" or to ally themselves with secular environmentalist groups.
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I think the reluctance comes from the sense 'environmentalist' carries with some on the right. An environmentalist, to some, is a radical pantheist who worships the mother goddess and opposes hurting any animal life (while not caring about abortion of humans), willing to use terrorist tactics, always unwilling to listen to arguments that sometimes ideal principles aren't practical given our current situation, and fully committed to opposing any normalcy of life (e.g. even cloth diapers, in the case of one environmentalist that made the news a couple years ago).
ReplyDeleteIt's funny that Rush Limbaugh realizes the diversity within the environmentalist movement when he distinguishes between environmentalists and the people he calls environmentalist wackos. I think there are many on the right who want to work toward better practices in terms of managing natural resources, preserving unique ecosystems, avoiding extinction of species, and preventing pollution. Some think the leaders on the left are so extreme that they won't even call themselves environmentalists. It's sad that even Limbaugh recognizes distinctions within environmentalism that these other people who are much more reasonable in their views won't recognized.
The same sort of phenomenon goes on with feminism, and Rush Limbaugh again recognizes a distinction with his way over-the-top term Feminazis, which I think is too extreme even for those who think heterosexual sex is always rape.