Prophetic traditions in the church of climate change

Robert Skidelsky uses the word apocalyptic, but his examples are not that different from some of those used by the infamous Rev. Wright.

It was only to be expected that the former US vice president, Al Gore, would give this month's Burmese cyclone an apocalyptic twist. "Last year," he said, "a catastrophic storm hit Bangladesh. The year before, the strongest cyclone in more than 50 years hit China ... We're seeing the consequences that scientists have long predicted might be associated with continual global warming."

His not so subliminal message was that these natural catastrophes foreshadow the end of the world.

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In secularized, pseudo-scientific form, apocalyptic thinking has also been at the core of revolutionary politics. In his latest book, "Black Mass," the philosopher John Gray discusses how political doctrines like Marxism colonized the apocalyptic vision in prophesying the destruction of capitalism as the prelude to the socialist utopia. But political messianism was an offshoot of 19th century optimism. With the collapse of optimism, contemporary apocalyptic belief lays more stress on catastrophe and less on utopia.

Misreporting of science is now so routine that we hardly notice it. Much more serious is when science itself becomes infected by the apocalyptic spirit. Faith-based science seems a contradiction in terms, because the scientific worldview emerged as a challenge to religious superstition. But important scientific beliefs can now be said to be held religiously, rather than scientifically.

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When Rev. Wright makes kooky statements only the people in his pews seem to nod their head in agreement, but when AlGore the "prophet" makes them, many in the media give them more credence than they deserve.


Now we see that liberals have their own prophetic traditions. But prophecy is not science it is faith based. Liberals are quick to make that point when it comes to the creation of the earth, but apparently ignore it when it comes to the predicted destruction of the earth.