Is Going Green Bad For Your Soul? A Response to "Resisting the Green Dragon" (Part 1)

A group called the Cornwall Alliance has put together a 12-week video course with a curriculum dedicated to rebutting and resisting the acceptance of environmentalist sensibilities among evangelical Christians. The foreboding web site states: 

Without a doubt one of the greatest threats to society and the church today is the multifaceted environmentalist movement.

I'm a little hesitant to post on this and give it more publicity than it has already received, but given the high profile nature of those involved, which include representatives of Focus on the Family, Calvary Chapel, the Southern Baptist Convention, and the Family Research Council, I think it's important to address. It has even been hailed by Glenn Beck on his TV show as an antidote to secular "go green" curriculums, and will likely be brought up in public discourse in the coming year. Along with this, I have been working on this blog and elsewhere to flesh out the intersections between faith, food, and environment, so it could be I'm in a unique position to respond.

A little context is helpful for understanding why "Resisting the Green Dragon" is so hyperbolic and overwrought. The environmental movement has been a straw-man enemy of conservative Christians for decades, but in recent years different aspects of the environmental movement have been embraced by conservative Christians in what some have called the "greening of evangelicals." Richard Cizik, as a representative of the National Association of Evangelicals, famously took up the cause of Global Warming, garnering placement on Time Magazine 100 most influential people list. In a 2006 show titled, "Is God Green?", Bill Moyers profiled Tri Robinson, an evangelical pastor from Boise Idaho, and how his conservative congregation has embraced the care of God's creation as gospel truth. There was also a boundary breaking book in 2007 by Matthew Sleeth, titled Serve God, Save the Planet, wherein Sleeth speaks with a distinctly evangelical voice about living simply and going green. 

Organizations like the Evangelical Environmental Network, that had been on the margins for years, have come to prominence and have gained influence. New organizations, like Flourish, were created, conferences were held, a distinct language of "creation care" was adopted, "Green" Vacation Bible School curriculums were written, and mission organizations like Plant With Purpose have sought to carry out the gospel of Jesus through planting trees and equipping the poor with sustainable practices. There is even a little known Spokane blogger who's written a book about the intersections of the Christian faith, the local food movement, and going green. :)

While the Green Dragon material poses the devil as the antagonist, the program is in many ways a response to these recent developments. The clue is in their press release that begins with these words, bold and underlined:

While Others Push Evangelicals to Embrace Anti-Christian Environmental Views, the Cornwall Alliance Has Been Joined by Top Christian Leaders in a New Series of DVDs and Printed Resources for Churches and Ministries

They are less concerned about tree-hugging environmentalists, than they are about other evangelical Christians who are embracing elements of the movement. They think the fox has gotten into the henhouse and now they are sounding the alarm.

In a follow-up post I'll do my best to respond to their concerns but, for now, I'll just offer a quote that sums up much of my frustration with things like "Resisting the Green Dragon."

Perhaps the greatest disaster of human history is one that happened to or within religion: that is, the conceptual division between the holy and the world, the excerpting of the Creator from the creation . . .. and this split in public attitudes was inevitably mirrored in the lives of individuals: A man could aspire to heaven with his mind and his heart while destroying the earth, and his fellow men, with his hands.

—Wendell Berry

Comments

[Michelle Sidles]

I'll be interested to hear more of your thoughts. I find this Green Dragon idea so bizarre.
I remember doing a bible study years back that talked about the difference between dominion and domination. That really stuck with me.

The quote above about excerpting the Creator from the creation is so compelling.

[Tana Young]

In this video, Christianity is linked to the doctrines of capitalism and privatization. A recent book, entitled, THE SHOCK DOCTRINE, by Naomi Klein, explores the "myth that the global free market triumphed democratically ... during world-changing crises and wars of the last four decades." Klein reveals "that America’s 'free market' policies have come to dominate the world-- through the exploitation of disaster-shocked people and countries." It's not so surprising that a religious veneer has been placed over the corporate aims of privatization. Where there was once public services, formerly accountable to the people (i.e., the voters), there is now the move toward the privatization of all services, and voters have become merely consumers, who get no real say. Money and greed control this argument.

[Keith]

A man could aspire to heaven with his mind and his heart while destroying the earth, and his fellow men, with his hands.

---

I was taught to hate "the world" in more ways than one.

After all, "it's passing", "fallen" and "cursed".

I almost got the notion that the faster we could destroy this God forsaken hellhole, the faster Jesus would descend from the sky in his new Jerusalem Spaceship and land somewhere in Tejas.

--- shouldn't post so late... I get myself in trouble this way :O

[nancy goodwin]

Disturbing. And I'm not just talking about the presenters' suits.

I kept hearing Christianity = freedom to live the way we want. What is that?

[Keith]

To be honest, I wrote my previous comment before giving the video a chance. I decided to watch it.

I started having flashbacks.

The video backdrop is an invisible war of demons against angels. Anything "global" equates to the ushering in of the antichrist. Anything good can also be "a wolf in sheep's clothing". If man does something good for man, it could very well be humanism. Satan is using environmentalism to brainwash the planet so he can pave the path for his antichrist.

You also hear several remarks of their slippery slope thinking, for example: environmentalists claim if you get in a family car, you are killing the poor. This is because these guys practice the scripture "guard your mind"... and know how to joust with the demons.

I think the Republicans were the ones to capitalize off of this sort of stuff, and I've always thought there was some conspiracy where the Republicans actually used these guys for their political ends.

Now, I'm not so sure. It all seems so nuts. Obviously, I'm deluded.

[Keith]

And so now the scripture where it says something like "there were some in that day, even the elect, who would fall away... believing in the philosphies of man"

Dude, you can't even know... I went through the ringer... and it's still tangled up.

[Keith]

One more comment. The most striking thing to me was when one of the speakers was at the podium in front of a crowd. It's not just a bunch of wackos speaking. There is a crowd listening and believing - fervently, religiously. Makes me sad, really.

[Keith]

What if this whole reaction boils down to this - How does one reconcile a person who doesn't believe in Jesus doing something good?

If only God can do good, and these don't claim to know God doing something good, then it can't be trusted. If lots and lots of people who don't claim to know God are doing the same good thing, then it is quite possibly a global threat i.e. antichrist.

The reason I mention this is because it looks as though straight out evil, like war and stuff, can be disregarded because it is well understood to be simply bad... but good... now that is scary. It takes quite an imagination to understand this threat.

As it says, the antichrist will claim to bring peace and deceive many like myself.

Peace, Bro. I'm off to get my 666 tattoo. Where is it supposed to go? There's a lot of discussion about that: forearm or forehead. I've got it! I'll put it on both places that way I can't go wrong.

[craig]

Not to freak you out Keith, but this was my 666th blog post on the blog. Cue the foreboding "Resisting the Green Dragon" music.

[Kim]

I am so thankful that I grew up away from all that nonsense so that I can just embrace Jesus and my understanding of Him can change and grow and I don't feel like I am choking on the mess of my brainwashed past.

Craig and Nancy - I am so looking forward to this book! I ordered another book on how to be a locavore. I am very concerned with ending world hunger and I am excited to understand this as another piece of the puzzle...I am such a consumerist and so wasteful...I really want to change.

[Keith]

To get to the bottom of this without having to backward mask your sermons... I descrambled your name:

Craig Goodwin ->
Criag Godowin ->
Cirago Godwin ->
Ciargo Godwin ->
Ciwargo Godin ->
iwargo GodinC ->
iWarGo GodInc ->

iGoGodWar Inc.

This is most definitely Apple's global antichrist corporation.

Taking a bite from the apple... Didn't learn the first time did you. The internet - the thirst for the tree of knowledge.

I'm on to you.

[carol sanford]

What disturbs me more than anti-green Christians are anti-green Christian politicians like James Inhofe, Jim DeMint, John Ensign, Michelle Bachmann, Mike Enzi, Tom Coburn, Sam Brownback, John Thune, and of course, the inimitable, Sara Palin.

Thanks to the Supreme Court's "Citizen's United Decision," millions in corporate contributions have poured into these and other right-wing conservative Christian politicians' coffers.

Koch Industries, one of the worst polluters in the country according to watchdog groups like SourceWatch, gave millions and millions of dollars to these and other hard-right and tea-party candidates who now control the House. Now that the House has voted to repeal "Obamacare," their leaders say they will take aim at environmental regulation.

As I write this, the Koch Brothers are preparing to host/have hosted a posse of billionaires and politicians, including many of those named above, at their compound in Rancho Mirage to strategize the dismantling of federal regulation of EVERYTHING, including most prominently, environmental protection and regulation.

This is all in the name of free enterprise, of course. Other prominent conservatives invited to the Koch's retreat include Paul Ryan, who authored the House Budget, Bobby Jindal and Haley Barbour, both presidential aspirants, and Supreme Court Justices Thomas and Scalia.

The brothers Koch oversee a multi-billion dollar enterprise with interests in gas and oil refining, factory farming, fertilizer, chemicals, and more. These uber-libertarians have fought environmental protection for years, funding, among others, climate change skeptics at the Cato Institute, the Astroturf Group, 'Americans for Prosperity,' the group that wrecked such havoc during the healthcare debate last summer and others too numerous too detail here. (See Jane Mayer's New York Times piece on the Koch Brothers for greater detail.)

Among their other misdeeds, the Koch Brothers funded the 'swiftboating' of John Kerry.

I could go on about these guys, but you get the point: the nexus of power between anti-environment corporate dollars and anti-green Christian conservative politicians and groups does not bode well for environmental policy: their influence will be felt for generations to come.

Craig, as a Christian leader, your voice is desperately needed to counter the damage these professed Christians have done and will do.

Although I am not a Christian, my limited understanding comprehends the Great Mystery at the heart of all things, and from this perspective, send you my humblest of blessings for speaking out on this issues.

With love,

Auntie C.

[carol sanford]

correction to what I wrote: . . . my limited understanding perceives the Great Mystery . . .

[Jenny A.]

Hey! I discovered your forthcoming book and blog here last week and was back today to take a longer look. Book looks great and appreciate your writing here. Which book or essay did the Berry quote come from? Felt like I'd read it before but I can't remember where.
Peace!

[craig]

Jenny,

Glad you found your way to the blog and book. The quote comes from the essay "A Secular Pilgrimage" that is included in the book, "A Continuous Harmony." http://www.amazon.com/Continuous-Harmony-Essays-Cultural-Agricultural/dp/1593760140

Hoping to get part 2 of this post up tomorrow.

Craig