Getting warm and getting crazy

The following survey about global warming seems sort of suspect to me. Maybe it was created and conducted by folks who are learning less as the planet grows hotter. Perhaps they need to get in the air-conditioning to reverse the academic damage! Though it has the imprimatur of Yale and George Mason Universities, it seems either designed to prove a point or not thoroughly theologically thought out.

The survey Global Warming, God, and the “End Times” concludes, “For a significant number of Americans, the reality, causes and meaning of global warming are seen through the lens of their religious beliefs.” I have no problem accepting that. In fact, it makes sense to me, as one with religious beliefs, that this and any other meaning would be seen through the lenses of my religious beliefs.

“God controls the climate.” Amen. (See Jeremiah 10:12–13, for example.) I do not have a problem with “God controls the climate, therefore people can’t be causing global warming.” Howver, the “therefore” conclusion is not the only one that could follow “God controls the climate.” For example, how about “God controls the climate; he makes people cause global warming?” Strike one.

Global warming signals the “end times.” Perhaps because the questions are framed within a religious context, the survey gets a higher percentage of “evangelical and born-again Christians” agreeing with this, and a lower percentage of atheists, agnostics, and evolutionists agreeing with this. Of course not. They don’t believe in “end times” in any religious sense. Strike two.

Finally, “The apocalypse will happen in my lifetime.” Again, “evangelical and born-again Christians,” “people who often watch Fox News Cable Channel,” and “Tea Party members” are on the high side, while agnostics, atheists, non-evangelical Protestants, liberal Democrats – and people who often listen to National Public Radio are on the low side. Not sure about Fox and NPR, but “apocalypse” certainly is a charge word with religious overtones that would likely skew the answers. Strike three.

What I find interesting is that, in my own experience, it is the atheist, agnostics, evolutionists, liberal Christians, and liberal Democrats (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, for example) who are fearmongering global warming and climate change as the end of the world if we don’t do something. Back in January of this year, Democratic Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez, speaking at a women’s rally in New York City, said that she and other young Americans think “The world is going to end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change, and your biggest issue is how are we gonna pay for it?” More recently, Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg, addressed the U.N. Climate Action Summit, saying, “People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!” [bold emphasis mine]

Yep, something smells afoul in this survey.