From the Pew to the Pulpit: Inside the Church of Global Warming

From the Pew to the Pulpit: Inside the Church of Global Warming
The Fifth Column Paul A. Ibbetson April 28, 2007	URL: http://www.newmediajournal.us/guest/p_ibbetson/04282007.htm
Walk carefully, I say unto you, for thou art on holy ground. This was the rude awakening that I received when I entered the global warming debate. It would also be the warning that I would forward to anyone wishing to enter the debate over the validity of man made global warming. I stepped into this discussion after watching the similarities between the scare tactics of the global warmers and what I had seen of the scientific community’s certainty of global cooling back in the 1970s. When ex-vice president Al Gore started saying, in a time of war, that global warming was a more important issue for us all to focus upon than international terrorism, I placed even more focus on the issue. With the help of the scientific community, those who have reservations on the magnitude of reported man made global warming, I wrote two compelling articles meant to spark further debate on where we should prioritize this issue when the nation is at war. I was literally assailed by the fanatics of the global warming community. The Salt Spring News pen pusher wished to enlighten me to the fact that Al Gore must be brilliant because his theatrical release, which I consider to be a movie equivalent to a 5th grade slide show,  An Inconvenient Truth, was doing financially well even though it was only being aired in seventy-seven theatres. Much harsher criticism would be thrust upon me by Harvey Leifert, the Public Information Manager for the American Geophysical Union. Leifert would take offense with a cited paper source that came from a survey of the American Geophysical Union. Leifert stated that the selection of the survey question did not reflect a complete picture of their survey. What was interesting to see was the fervor in which the Public Information Manager would condemn a skeptic. Though he completely side-stepped addressing the main argument that I deduced, that Al Gore’s movie, An Inconvenient Truth, was akin to a low stakes shell game. His rage over the fact that I would challenge man made global warming literally made spittle fly off his letter to the editor. Within moments, little smoggy bloggers from Canada, whose creed must be ‘We don’t think for ourselves, we leave that to the professionals,’ would jump to the aid of the American Geophysical Union and firmly ensconce me in their ‘Halls of Shame’. This anger, which goes beyond the realm of debate, leads me to a new conclusion as to what motivates the majority of the global warming community. What may have started as the observance of science and environmentalism has now progressed to the level of cultish religion. If this seems like a stretch, take a moment to look at the evidence that is made available daily. Al Gore, a failed presidential candidate, is hailed as a visionary by championing the global warming cause. His slideshow movie as I affectionately call it, wins an Oscar and the liberal Hollywood elites praise his name not unlike a modern day savior. CBS’s Harry Smith would broach the topic, what global warmers may whisper at the dinner table; which is of course that Al Gore may indeed be a modern day prophet (Rule, 2007). Gore’s anointing as a holy man would be made complete with a Noble Peace Prize, which looms in the near future. All we have to do is step inside the church of global warming to understand the fanaticism of doomed earth believers. In this scheme, to question any aspect of global warming is not to invite debate, it is to blaspheme. Man made global warming skeptics are not people with a different view, they are the equivalent of witches and warlocks whose voices must be burned from existence. Am I too harsh in saying this? Likened to a religious edict, Gore has stated that all skeptic debate is to be silenced through the ludicrous announcement of a “scientific consensus” on the issue. Talk about asking the choir to take a leap of faith. It is within the contradictions of the global warming argument, as well as the banner carriers, that we start to see just how much one must throw logic out the window to support the global warming machine. What do you do when your prophets no longer live up to the image they portray? When they violate the commandments they themselves have laid down? This is something that religious cults have had to try to deal with on many occasions. Jim Jones who preached socialistic holiness, termed “apostolic socialism,” was guilty of physically and emotionally abusing both men and women from within his flock. The contradictions of both his actions and his vision of the future would lead his congregation of over 900 faithful to a cult death in Guyana in what Jones would term “revolutionary suicide”. The death of  the followers of the Peoples Temple, of which Jones was their prophet, should have taught us all the lesson that we must be very careful to never exalt people or ideas to the level of the cult status. Is there no comparison between the Peoples Temple and the Doomsayers of Global Warming? Al Gore, on a daily basis, requests that all Americans make that walk from the pew to the pulpit, within the church of global warming, to limit their CO2 fossil fuel emissions to save the planet no matter what the personal cost may be. Of course we would expect the portly prophet of doomsday prognostications to be the most pious when it comes his own CO2 emissions right? Sorry flock. Gore has been found to be lumbering across the globe with a personal carbon footprint the size of Sasquatch. According to Nashville Electric Service records, Gore’s palatial home and pool house use more than twenty times the national average of kilowatt-hours (Tapper, 2007). So what do you do when your leader, who preaches that the masses should reduce their deadly emissions, is found with his pants down consuming enough energy to power a third world country? Well, that’s when fanaticism comes in handy. We are quickly told that Gore is still among the holy, despite the fact that his utility bill was $30,000 in a single year. Why? Because he had a coupon! Thus enters the saga of the carbon credit. Like group hypnosis, the carbon credit sales pitch conditions the global warming convert to believe that if you have enough money, your spirit can be pure, without reducing your carbon foot print at all. Of course the ones that do not have the financial means will have to be doing the sacrificing, but by expanding government regulation there is little doubt that a fair and even reduction system can be found for the unwashed masses. In case, you don’t understand this system, it’s called Socialism and it’s the business end of the church of global warming. There is little doubt that when we get to this point, we will be asked to put a lot more than money into the collection plate; but for the prophet Gore this will never be a problem. Even at Global Warming Hearings in the Senate in late March, 2007, where the red carpet was laid in his honor, the prophet of consumption reduction refused to take an energy ethics pledge to use no more energy than the average American. If this article is making you rant, I’m going to have to ask you to quiet down; after all, we are in church. We have seen the same kind of fanaticism in the push for the United States to join the already failing carbon emission program in Kyoto (Murphy, 2007). That’s right, even the believers abroad that are free from the taint of individuality that stains the American consciousness seem to be in constant violation of Kyoto carbon emission limits. Canada’s emissions are reported to run at 24 percent with their agreed limit set at 6 percent. Japan runs at 13 percent which is 7 percent higher than their target limit. The original members of Kyoto, the Europeans (EU-15), carbon emission has risen for the second year in a row. Of course one of the world’s biggest growing polluters, China, is not even a part of the Kyoto agreement; but hey, it’s a great place to buy a carbon credit! In the end, no one is really reducing carbon emissions, but the rhetoric is running full blast. What are the limits to the global warming hoopla? Will we be seeing little smiling people with billboards and bells selling carbon credit coupons at the airports? I want to exhale in exasperation, but to do so is to kill the planet; you know CO2. In time, the church of global warming will close its doors with its parishioners having exceeded their Kool-Aid tolerance level. The confusion, if not the deception, that Al Gore and his minions propagate about “who is the creator, and who is the created” will be swept away. I look forward to that time when so many of my brothers and sisters, currently enthralled by the church of global warming, will come home. So many of us look forward to that day, and like with the story of the prodigal son, when they do come home, there will great rejoicing and a wondrous feast.
Paul A. Ibbetson is a published author and lecturer on the Patriot Act. He is a former Chief of Police of Cherryvale, Kansas, and member of the Montgomery County Drug Task Force. Paul received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Criminal Justice at Wichita State University, and is currently completing his PhD. in sociology at Kansas State University. Paul is the author of the book “Living Under The Patriot Act: Educating A Society” that is available for purchase NOW! at www.patriotactresearch.com as well as other major book outlets. Paul is a regular writer for the Conservative Crusader as well as several other online websites.