Society of Environmental Journalists --"The source for journalists reporting on the environment."
Posted on 03/30/2002 2:19:25 AM PST by JohnHuang2
In a March 26 story by John Fialka, the Wall Street Journal reported that churches in 21 states were mounting an all-out attack against the Bush administration's proposal to open the Arctic Natural Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration. This campaign is coordinated by the National Religious Partnership for the Environment.
Few, if any, of the churches realize that the NRPE is the outgrowth of extreme ecologists who believe the Bible is obsolete, that the earth – gaia – is the giver of life, that human beings are but individual cells in the gaia organism, and that the United Nations is the evolving "brain" of gaia.
Paul Gorman, director of the NRPE, was director of the Temple of Understanding, housed at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York. He organized a "Joint Appeal," consisting of 22 scientists and 100 religious leaders that became the NRPE. Mikhail Gorbachev hosted a conference for the group in Moscow, where James Lovelock, author of "The Ages of Gaia," was the featured speaker. Dr. Robert Muller, 30-year deputy secretary general of the U.N., and Thomas Berry, served on the Temple's board of directors.
Writing for World Goodwill, in Oct. 1989, Robert Muller said:
We are part and parcel of a living planetary organism. Each of us is a cell, a perceptive nervous unit of the Earth. You, as cosmic and earth cells, are part of a vast biological and evolutionary phenomenon ... We have now a world brain which determines what can be dangerous or mortal for the planet: the United Nations and its agencies, and innumberable [sic] groups and networks around the world, are part of the brain.
Muller readily admits that his beliefs are based largely on the writings of Alice Baily, who founded the Lucifer Publishing Company, and whose works are said to be transmitted by an "ascended master," called Djwhal Khul.
Thomas Berry's belief system, called "Cosmolatry," is even more bizarre. In his "Dream of the Earth," he says:
This re-enchantment with the earth as a living reality is the condition for our rescue of the earth from the impending destruction that we are imposing upon it. To carry this out effectively, we must now, in a sense, reinvent the human as species within the community of life species. Our sense of reality and of value must consciously shift from an anthropocentric to a biocentric norm of reference.
Berry compares man's belief that God created the earth to the ancient belief that the sun revolved around the earth. He says both beliefs are wrong, and the truth is only now being discovered through what he calls "enlightenment."
Sens. Al Gore, Timothy Wirth and James Jeffords were instrumental in the creation of the NRPE. They arranged congressional breakfasts with NRPE leaders, helped with funding, and Al Gore delivered a sermon at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, which is reported in Cathedral literature this way:
I saw children lying in the laps of large dogs and a boy bringing his stuffed animals to be blessed. I saw the not-yet famous elephant and camel march up the aisle; a lawyer who scoops the poop and enjoys being clown-for-a-day; a priest who finds himself covered with wriggling ferrets; a man and a woman who meet when their leashes become enmeshed; a volunteer gardener marching to the altar with a bowl full of compost and worms; a sermon by Al Gore, in which he called on the congregants to recognize that 'God is not separate from the Earth.'"
The NRPE avoids telling the participating churches the true nature of their agenda. Instead, they are exploiting the churches, converting them into lobbying machines for their extremist policies.
Mikhail Gorbachev and the U.N.'s Maurice Strong have promoted the Earth Charter, which is expected to replace the Ten Commandments as the basis for social and religious organization. The Earth Charter has been placed in an Ark and is being ceremoniously conveyed to Johannesburg, South Africa, for adoption by the World Summit on Sustainable Development next August.
Churches that promote the NRPE are promoting a new, biocentric, Godless, global religion. Most of them have no idea.
A thorough, well-documented report on the NRPE was published by the Environmental Conservation Organization in 1996, and republished by the Chair of Free Enterprise at the University of Texas. "The Rise of Global Green Religion," and the 2001 update are available to ECO members.
Society of Environmental Journalists --"The source for journalists reporting on the environment."
Here's one more.
Scientists and Religious Leaders Join Forces for the Environment
[Full Text] The bridging of difference can, upon occasion, result in a whole that is stronger than its parts. In an effort to preserve nature, leaders from disparate worlds--science and religion--have formed just such a bridge. As part of its efforts to promote environmental conservation, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), with the cooperation of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment (NRPE), has produced an educational video highlighting the critical need to protect the environment.
This inspirational video, Keeping the Earth: Religious and Scientific Perspectives on the Environment, calls on all Americans to serve as good stewards of the natural world. Prominent scientists and religious leaders offer their perspectives on the need to protect our environment and the diverse species that share it. The 27-minute video, narrated by James Earl Jones, demonstrates that, although scientists and religious leaders do not agree on all things, they want to work together to preserve nature. UCS produced the video and discussion guide as an educational tool for congregations and interested individuals.
"Is it our future to devour nature? I do not think this is what God had in mind," said Paul Gorman, Executive Director for NRPE. "From a scientific point of view we lose the basis of our physical sustenance, and from a religious point of view we lose our spiritual sustenance."
"What we need is a much broader recognition of the problems that careless human activities are bringing upon us," said Henry Kendall, Nobel laureate and Chair of UCS. "We must realize that things are not right and that we must do something about it. This is where I see a partnership between science and religion playing a very important and very powerful role."
UCS, a non-profit organization, is dedicated to preserving the global environment by advancing responsible public policies in areas where science and technology play a critical role. UCS has created a unique alliance between many of the nation's leading scientists and thousands of committed citizens. This partnership addresses the most serious environmental and security threats facing humanity.
The NRPE was founded in 1993 with the goal of integrating environmental conservation and justice into all aspects of religious faith. The interfaith coalition is composed of four constituent groups: the US Catholic Conference, the National Council of Churches of Christ, the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, and the Evangelical Environmental Network. NRPE's campaign to preserve the environment stems from the group's belief that environmental stewardship is a fundamental part of religion. [End]
UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS
2 Brattle Square
Cambridge, MA 02238
617-547-5552
Contact us at ucs@ucsusa.org
Gaia, according to the ancient Greeks was one of the original "gods," actually Titans, from whom the world was created. Without going into the incestuous details, this is rather an old, pantheistic belief, just dressed in a rewoven tunic.
Frankly, we Christians need to aggressively share Christ, and Him crucified, and let the Holy Spirit quicken hearts to respond. Then, as we draw closer to God, we'll have a proper view of our stewardship of the earth. We should care for it, NOT WORSHIP it.
director of the Temple of Understanding, housed at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York.
Say no more. Cathedral of St. John the Divine + The Temple of Bishop Sponge - remember that wacko? Supportive of gay marriages, queer priests, and a "winter soltstice festival" instead of nativity services at his "Cathedral".
Deep Ecologists deny that their body of practices and beliefs constitutes a religion, although they publicly engage in animist and shamanist rituals and speak reverently of Gaia (the “Earth Mother Goddess”) as the source of true scientific knowledge:Source
“Gaian perception connects us with the seamless nature of existence, and opens up a new approach to scientific research based on scientific institutions arising from scientists’ personal, deeply subjective ecological experience. When the young scientist in training has sat on a mountain top, and has completed her first major assignment to ‘think like a mountain’, that is, to dwell and deeply identify with a mountain, mechanistic thinking will never take root in her mind. When she eventually goes out to practise her science in the world, she will be fully aware that every interconnected aspect of it has its own intrinsic value, irrespec-tive of its usefulness to the economic activities of human beings.”Gaia was supposedly a Minoan earth goddess, adopted by a clearly wealthy, and reputedly earth-worshipping and pacifist civilization on Crete. Unfortunately, the popular beliefs about Minoan civilization largely represent the neurotic whimsy of Sir Arthur Evans, the first major excavator at Knossos. Evans was obsessed with proving that Minoan civilization had Aryan origins, and demonstrated a propensity to contort his observations in order to project upon them Druidic beliefs. Current evidence suggests that constantly warring Minoan city-states were overrun by Mycenean Greeks, perhaps after a nearby volcanic eruption. Maybe they had been weakened and their numbers were reduced. They did sometimes eat their children. One thing that we do know: They are no longer with us.– STEPHAN HARDING
Some Deep Ecologists think that a consequence such as befell the Minoans might not be so bad. Such are adherents to the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (VHMT, pronounced “vehement”) or the Church of Euthanasia (whose central tenets are: Abortion, Sodomy, Cannibalism, and Suicide).
If a belief system has a flawed foundation in logic, a codified structure of beliefs, a hierarchy, icons, a personified supernatural deity, and spiritual rites, then it is equivalent to a religion whether it has a 501(c3) or not. If a religious body of belief starts to direct policy, it is equivalent to an establishment of religion capable of confounding all civic deliberation. Perhaps the only thing that keeps deep ecologists from being sued successfully is that they don’t have an office or a bank account.
TIKKUN Community c/o TIKKUN Magazine 2107 Van Ness Ave Suite 302, San Francisco, Ca. 94109
TIKKUN Community c/o TIKKUN Magazine 2107 Van Ness Ave Suite 302, San Francisco, Ca. 94109Many of us are involved in social change movements like the women's movement, the environmental movement, the movement for economic justice, the civil rights movement, the gay rights movement, the labor movement, and the disability movement, to name just a few and have greatly admired the energy, courage, and moral commitment of the people we have worked with. We all have rejoiced in the significant victories that these movements have won.
It seems like I heard this from some hippie that was spaced out on LSD on Hollywood Blvd. back in the late 60's.
Peace and love Bro!!
The NRPE avoids telling the participating churches the true nature of their agenda. Instead, they are exploiting the churches, converting them into lobbying machines for their extremist policies.
Bump.
God/ess: Sounding the Note of True Revolution -- Anne Roche Muggeridge
Pastoral Instruction on New Age -- Archbishop Norberto Rivera Carrera
Happy Easter.
Those goals make me feel so warm and fuzzy - by golly - - - - I AM the EASTER BUNNY!!!
Happy Easter!
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