Monday, 09 November 2009
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Environmentalism Becomes a Religion
When Tim Nicholson was dismissed from his executive position because of his “green” views, he took his former employer to court. Now, a UK court has granted him the right to proceed with the lawsuit, ruling that environmentalism has the same legal merit as religion. According to a recent article in the UK's Telegraph, Nicholson relates environmentalism to religion, explaining that it reflects his “moral and ethical values and is underlined by the overwhelming scientific evidence.” His views are so strong, in fact, that he “refuses to travel by air and renovated his house to be environmentally-friendly.”
The article goes on to express that the ruling could open doors for other employees to sue their companies “for failing to account for their green lifestyles, such as providing recycling facilities or offering low-carbon travel.”
This issue brings up some interesting questions, especially when considering what one defines as a religion. Nicholson clearly believes strongly in environmentalism, enough so that he went to great lengths to change his lifestyle to fit his “green” principles. Similarly, a new convert to Christianity will change his or her lifestyle in some ways—such as quitting smoking, reading the Word more, and going to church—to better represent Christian values and beliefs.
I hesitate to equate the two, and I don't suspect the court meant to suggest that the belief in climate change is a religion. Instead, I'm fairly certain the court just wanted to stress that those who are environmentalists have similarly passionate beliefs, and as such should have those beliefs respected. Yet, as one writer for The Guardian suggests, the ruling is dangerous in that there is no way to determine how genuine a person's “green” convictions are.
While the court may have had good motives, there is some concern that the merit being given to environmentalism in the UK could be potentially dangerous to honest businesses trying to comply with their employees rights. At the same time, it is even more dangerous to haphazardly throw the term “religion” around, applying it to a set of strong beliefs and not an actual faith.
How do you define religion? Do you think environmentalism, if believed strongly, could be considered a religion?
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Comments (20)
wow, interesting. pretty rad...ical.
This is really interesting, I don't have much time to write a detailed comment right now as I am in my Geography class (World Ecology Problems, irconically). Good post.
One of my theology profs had a term for this: "Replacement Religion." It refers to something that's not intrinsically religious, but that is used to satisfy all or many of the impulses that religious practice would fill if the person in question was a believer. Examples might include politics, sports, dieting, career, music, or even atheism-- and environmentalism too, it appears.
Hmm, on a much brighter note, the official religion of America is Democracy.
"Spread the Gospel of the Founders to the world! It is time to repent your communist ways and become free! Oh, Washinton-Almighty, I'm free at at last!"
I don't think one should consider environmentalism a religion, however, if it pushes the need to be more eco-conscious, go for it?
Environmentalism has a basis in science, so it isn't really a belief system. It is about moral and ethcial values, but not in a religious context. I don't think that environmentalism could be considered a religion.
one could argue that there's no possible way to judge how genuine a Christian's/Muslim's/Jew's/atheist's beliefs are, either.
Given a choice between envirnmentalism and mamonism, I'd chose the former. Fortunately there's more than just two choices.
I thought it was already a religion. Called Humanism. A belief that man and nature should live in harmony. The acknowledgment that man can't survive without nature, but nature can survive without man.
Just giving my 2 cents.
- Kunoichi
Religion by itself is just a name, and is a meaningless structure of human kind.
Did you know that God has nothing to do with Christianity, and Catholicism?
Those are just gathering terms under which on earth one could create a corporation where the focus is to find God. But God's kingdom is not limited to being a baptist, pentacostal, chrsitian, hindu, or whatever...
Anyone who believes in Jesus Christ as their lord and savior (and acts like that) belongs to the kingdom of God. A religion is nothing more than an earthly manifestation, group, umbrella, or name under which one can find the true kingdom of God.
A lot that's happening in Christianity is not really connected to God.. Religion is not of God.
So let them be like a religion.
The only thing religion offers, is a structure to have churches, administration, a center that performs earthly tasks that makes gatherings possible, and a way on how the government can help a part in the kingdom of God.
The Government only does that (taxfree on gifts and offerings) out of obligation because the church has proven to be a good influence in the neighborhoods.
The kingdom of God is beyond religion. Religion is only a small pie of the kingdom of God, and like with everything, if you only take a small pie out of a big thing, it will be out of context.
Religion tends to transform into tradition, and tradition tends to bring death.
Only the Kingdom of God brings life!
Related to environmentalism - I like the joke I heard that there are two religions in Hollywood - Scientology and Global Warming.
@KrazeeKunoichi009@xanga - You should be like me then. A nomad, a druid, a wiccan, a pagan. It has many names. I'm of Cheeroke and English blood. My ancestors were pagan, and nomads. I believe the sky is heaven. Heaven is God. The earth is life. The earth is the Goddess. We always have a mother and father. The Goddess is every thing in nature, and everything that is beautiful. God is everything that is wonderous and mighty. They hold balance. On earth, the Goddess holds balance between preaditor, and prey. In heaven, God holds balance between life and death.
This is why the earth is burning to the ground. People have forgotten the Goddess. They have forgotten balance. They take, and do not offer anything in return.
@Crimson_Ballad@xanga - People have forgotten "Mother Earth" and just take all her resources without giving anything in return. They use up all the resources they need and move to another place. The only other creature that does that is a parasite. Take as much as they can from the host until there is no more.
Not one to believe in deities, but I do believe we need to give back to our "mother", to the source of life. Cut down a tree, plant a new one.
- Kunoichi
@KrazeeKunoichi009@xanga - exactly
Since when became this christian blog a blog for atheists and occultists?
Is there really not a place on the net where Christians can share without always having to hear this senseless crap every time?
I'm sorry if I exert myself this way, but where ever I go, on the net, it always start out with a few, and before you know it, atheists are really ruining the mood (like they do on answers.yahoo and plenty of other sites...
I don't mind atheists to have their own webpage, or blog, but I bet you won't see christians interfering with their standard conversations, trying to change the mood with biblical ideas...
tsss... Even some of the topics are written by people who plainly go against the very book this blog is trying to uphold, namely the bible!
Revelife, "Christian Community for the Heart, Mind, and Soul".. Are you still sure?
@ProDigit -
"Religion by itself is just a name, and is a meaningless structure of human kind.Did you know that God has nothing to do with Christianity, and Catholicism?
Those are just gathering terms under which on earth one could create a corporation where the focus is to find God. But God's kingdom is not limited to being a baptist, pentacostal, chrsitian, hindu, or whatever..."
Well said.
In discussing with an atheist who claimed religion is absurd saying he believed there is nothing more than what we see before our eyes, Shakyamuni the historical Buddha answered that religion is a formation of beliefs and told the atheist that his beliefs could also be considered as a religion.
On the other extreme side of the coin, there was a case shown on either American Justice or Cold Case Files (I forget which. I saw it a while ago). The case was about a serial killer who remained at large for a long time. The police finally cracked the case. The killer turned out to be a mild-mannered church leader. He wasn't a priest but was active in leading organizing church functions and the like. People believed him to be a religious man.
From another perspective we see many politicians campaigning as Godly people when really they aren't. More important to their campaigns is to convince their constituents that their opponents are not Godly. By using this all too common strategy they can toss issues under the bus and get votes.
Still, this court decision opens the floodgates for anyone to claim their particular beliefs constitute special consideration as their beliefs can be classified as religion. Where would it end?
Yes, that's one problem with religion- it's vaguely defined. Some people call it faith, others call it conviction, others call it changing your life. Who cares? Once everyone starts demanding to be outside the realm of human reason because they have so much more conviction on a particular topic, we as a society will lose all sense of objective honesty or intelligence.
I believe we should all work to encourage common sense, which is both politically incorrect and "religion-less".
@ProDigit - Since when became this christian blog a blog for atheists and occultists?
Is there really not a place on the net where Christians can share without always having to hear this senseless crap every time?
There are quite a few. And because of their extremely exclusive nature, they are boring, dry,heavily censored, and just lack any character or creativity.
And besides, Jesus didn't live in a Christian bubble. Why should we?