CHRISTIANS BELIEVE THAT we should care for the environment. We are stewards that will give an accounting to God. This conviction is rooted in the fact that creation is a gift. God created humanity to rule over and care for it. It exists for people. People don’t exist for creation.

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.

Genesis 1:26-28

But this understanding is very different from the modern Environmental movement. For many in the environmental movement creation is god. We exist for creation, not the other way around. That is why we should not adopt their priorities or trust them. Modern “environmentalism” is a religion. It is an expression of pantheism. Pantheists believe that nature is god. Hinduism, Buddhism, and Shintoism are other expressions of Pantheism. Nature is impersonal. It lacks personality. It is not conscious. It has no moral preferences. By contrast, Christians, Jews, and Muslims worship the opposite—a personal God.

Christians do not deify nor worship nature as pantheists commonly do. Neither are we rabid environmentalists with the single agenda of saving the earth. But a respectful treatment of the earth and a measured use of its resources—as gifts of God’s common grace—are appropriate responses to God’s lavish gifts in creation.^[1]

Bruce Demarest, The Cross and Salvation, pg. 92

Every religion prioritizes god over people. That is also true of Environmentalism. In virtually all of their decisions, objectives, and aims the welfare of nature is the goal. If people must suffer in the short or long term, it’s OK. Nature, not people, is the priority.

Rajendra Pachauri, former head of the UN IPCC [United Nations Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change], has announced that global warming “is my religion...For me the protection of Planet Earth, the survival of all species and sustainability of our ecosystems is more than a mission. It is my religion and my dharma.”

Marc Morano, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Climate Change, pg. 9

For the last fifty years, Environmentalism has done more harm than good. Like many religions, it operates from faith presuppositions rather than scientifically provable facts. And like Islamic Jihadists, extremists are in control. Here are some reasons we do not trust them.

History

First, their history. The modern environmental movement only became a significant social movement at the end of the sixties. In 1968 Stanford professor Paul Ehrlichman, wrote The Population Bomb. He argued that world population increases would cause mass starvation by the 1980s. It sold six million copies and frightened millions. Many Americans, paralyzed with fear, quit having children, or drastically minimized family size while criticizing those with more than two.

But Ehrichman’s dire predictions didn’t materialize. People didn’t starve. Just the opposite. The Green Revolution in agriculture ramped up world agricultural production. Despite double the 1968 population, today our planet produces more calories per person than at any time in history.

In addition, the exact opposite is now occurring. People are not having too many children, but too few. Worldwide fertility is collapsing.

The climate is always changing. The question is what is causing the change?

Since 2000 the environmental Movement has increasingly terrorized the Western world with another fear—radical climate change caused by the burning of fossil fuels. Everyone agrees that the climate is always changing. The question is what causes the change? Is climate change caused by the consumption of fossil fuels or is the climate just routinely adjusting? Although there is some evidence that burning fossil fuels causes climate change, there is also significant evidence that human activity is not responsible.

Philip Stott, professor emeritus of Biogeography at the University of London, points out that “climate change is governed by hundreds of factors, or variables, and the very idea that we can manage climate change predictably by understanding and manipulating at the margins one politically-selected factor [CO2], is as misguided as it gets.”

Marc Morano, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Climate Change (p. 12

I view Climategate as science fraud, pure and simple.”

Princeton Physicist, Robert Austin

But the Environmental Movement will not listen to alternative explanations. Their prejudice is a problem. Despite a lack of clarity on the cause of climate change, they are hell-bent on the destruction of our fossil fuel industry—and that without a clear source of replacement energy.

Priorities

In addition to the history of the environmental movement, there are their dehumanizing priorities. They have increasingly prioritized nature over people and their needs.

For example, many will remember when anxiety over the disappearance of the Spotted Owl shut down large sections of the logging industry in the Northwest. Thousands lost their jobs. The cost of lumber went up. Whole communities were impoverished. None of this mattered. The survival of the Spotted Owl was more important than the livelihood of whole communities of people.

In the same way, environmentalists have almost completely shut down the logging and mining industries.

Despite the fact that nuclear power is the safest, cleanest source of future energy, environmental regulations have made it almost impossible to build a nuclear power plant.

And now, President Biden, beholden to environmental activists, is attempting to shut down the fossil fuel industry without a workable source of energy to replace fossil fuels. Wind and solar are decades away from filling the void.

Logical Inconsistencies

Last, we don’t trust them because of their philosophical inconsistencies. The vast majority of Environmentalists are atheistic evolutionists. The two go together like hand and glove. The survival of the fittest is the basic assumption of evolution. Here’s the conundrum. If humans are the fittest, why should we defer to the environment? Why should we care about Spotted Owls or Darter Snails? The material world progresses as the fittest survive, and we are the fittest.

In addition, since the god of pantheism is impersonal, nature doesn’t care about the environment, so why should we? Pantheists don’t believe in moral absolutes. We die, and then we cease to exist. The only logical life goal is pleasure. So why should they care about the environment? Use the environment. Squeeze the maximum amount of pleasure out of it. As the apostle Paul wrote, “eat, drink for tomorrow you die” (1 Corinthians 15). In other words, live as if you really are pantheists. Don’t profess to be pantheists but act like Christians. Don’t pretend that life is pregnant with moral truth when it isn’t. Only Christians believe that. Environmentalists consistently act against their faith convictions.

That Environmentalists act as if nature has meaning proves that a personal God made them in his image. They care because God cares, and they are his image bearers.

Solution

Environmentalism is a false religion, and its adherents currently control our political and social future. The only solution is their conversion from a false religion to a true one. Therefore, preach the gospel. Live the gospel. Teach the gospel to your children and grandchildren. Write about it. Celebrate it, and above all pray, pray, pray for a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The only solution to Environmentalism is mass conversion one heart at a time. This is a divine work. Only God can accomplish it. So pray and evangelize. The need is great.