By Kevin D. Williamson
Monday, April 20, 2020
It is something of a cliché on the right to observe that
the character of the environmental movement is generally religious rather than
political or ecological — it has a deity, festivals, dietary laws (if you
really cared about Gaia, you’d be a vegan!), an apocalypse narrative, etc.
And it also has its sacraments of reconciliation. It was
no surprise, then to read this headline in the New York Times this morning: “This
Earth Day, We Should Repent.”
If your interest is in human flourishing — say, how to balance
economic dynamism with concerns about greenhouse-gas emissions — then that
involves a series of scientific, economic, and political questions, tradeoffs,
and compromises. If your interest is in penance, then you are not part of a
social-reform movement — you are part of a cult.
The Times essay, by former UN official Hugh
Roberts, is pretty fruity, e.g.:
Of course, there will be
objections. For instance: Anything even remotely resembling repentance must be
an oppressive relic of Christianity and so should be disqualified. This would
be a momentous argument. First, it would prevent us from ever being truly sorry
about anything. Second, it would disqualify many of the main tenets of secular
Western society, which are clearly borrowed or repurposed from Christianity.
The idea of a universal, linear movement toward salvation is uniquely
Judeo-Christian.
Now we seek to remake a supposedly
inhospitable world with knowledge. We glorify work, “the sweat of the brow,”
and our “fortunate faults,” such as avarice, in the ancient belief that they
enable our redemption. What is this? The attempt to remake Eden by the means of
the fall?
If you are in the market for some truly sophomoric
rhetoric about green penance offering you a more “authentic life,” then today
is your day.
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