Those who are the slowest to accept climate change are groups of my fellow religiously conservative Christians (a.k.a., flaming fundamentalists friends and family). One such denial of climate change comes from Ralph Drollinger (click here for a bio), a one time basketball player for UCLA, he has since gone to seminary and became a teacher of the Bible primarily for politicians in the Washington, DC area.
Back in April of 2018, Drollinger wrote an article about environmentalism for a ministry he founded and is president of called Capital Ministries. His article (click here for the article) was directed against those whom he called radical environmentalists. He never provides a precise definition of what is a radical environmentalist but a key statement in the article lends us to believe that the group he is referring incorporates a wider definition than the name suggests. That statement is below:
TO THINK THAT MAN CAN ALTER THE EARTH’S ECOSYSTEM — WHEN GOD REMAINS OMNISCIENT, OMNIPRESENT AND OMNIPOTENT IN THE CURRENT AFFAIRS OF MANKIND — IS TO MORE THAN SUBTLY ESPOUSE AN ULTRA-HUBRISTIC, SECULAR WORLDVIEW RELATIVE TO THE SUPREMACY AND IMPORTANCE OF MAN
Though the examples of environmentalists he gives in his article seem to be somewhat exclusive, the above quote suggests that every climate scientist who is convinced by the evidence that human activity is that is contributing to climate change.
What bothers Drollinger about these radical environmentalists is that they, according to him, worship the creation rather than the creator. And thus, they view creation as existing independently of God and are not aware of God's work in renewing creation.
In addition, based on the environmentalists who wrongly predicted that California's earlier drought would last forever, he believes that they unnecessarily hinder Capitalism and man's efforts to make progress with what he builds. He mentions a few famous American leaders of industry to make his point. They include John D. Rockefeller who found uses for gasline oil into gasoline, and Andrew Carnegie who came up with steel alloy from iron. He regards their work as part of man subduing nature as a servant of God. These innovations helped make America a world leader in industry.
Now here is the main problem with Drollinger's article: it is the above quote. As Drollinger seems to have positioned himself against climate scientists, which the quote implies, as they warn us against human caused climate change. The problem is that many of the dreaded results of climate change are happening at a more accelerated rate than previously expected. Some of the most obvious signs of climate change include: the number of cat-5 hurricanes this century as well as a growing number of extreme weather events, increased levels of CO2 in the atmosphere and oceans, thawing of the permafrost which releases even more greenhouse gases, increased wildfire seasons, loss of ice at the Arctic and Antarctic, and a faster rise in sea levels than before. Note that those are not predicted events, they are currently observed events.
Drollinger seems to be unaware of past scuffles between science and Christian leaders. For example when Heliocentrism was proposed by Copernicus, religious leaders from both the Roman Church and the Protestant movement condemned the theory and the man because his theory contradicted how they saw the Scriptures describing the earth. In addition, evolution has sorely pressed many a conservative religious leader. It isn't that evolution can be completely accepted by religiously conservative Christians, but part of it can. But initially it was totally rejected.
Part of Drollinger's problem with "radical" environmentalism are the implications that come with its pronouncements. What climate change is saying to us is that we need to change our way of life so as to reduce our carbon and other footprints on the earth. And we need to do that for the sake of our descendants.
At the same time, Drollinger looks at America and its rapid industrial growth leading to its world leadership as proof that God has bless America because of its reliance on Him. He currently views the Covid-19 virus as God's consequential judgment for allowing homosexuality and following the recommendations of "radical" environmentalists (click here for the article). In short, Drollinger fits the profile of a religiously conservative Christian who is also a politically conservative, patriotic American. We could address those views now but that would distract from the subject at hand.
The point that I want to make here in response to Drollinger's condemnation of "radical" environmentalists is that what he is deducing from his understanding of the Scriptures is not what is being told to us by observation and scientific studies. That those who are convinced by the evidence for climate change are not convinced because of idolatry--they worship and serve creation rather than the Creator. Rather, they are convinced by the evidence because they understand the effects that greenhouse gases have in the atmosphere and they are witnessing the results of our destroying the environment. And they are speaking as secular prophets to us. But, ironically, the first people to reject their prophetic utterances are those who claim to be most religious. And one of the reasons for their rejection is that to take what scientists say about climate change seriously means that we have to radically change our lifestyles from their current, very comfortable state
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