By Lewis Loflin
On March 8, 2009, Bristol resident General Parks wrote a letter to the Bristol Herald Courier, lamenting widespread doubt about man-made global warming. He unwittingly confirmed what I’d long suspected: it’s not about science but social and religious crusades. His anti-capitalist jabs revealed his leanings. Below is my response, published March 11, 2009, with my unedited draft and supporting evidence.
Kudos to General Parks’ letter (March 8) for revealing the truth: “Whether global warming is real or not isn’t the issue... Global warming actually matters little...” Setting aside his disdain for capitalism, Lou Dobbs nailed it on January 6: “They bring this thing to a personal belief system. It’s almost a religion, without any question...” It is a religion, laced with fascist undertones, violating the Constitution’s separation of religion—not just church—and state.
What right do Parks and his ilk have to impose misery and poverty on millions to push their beliefs? Obama, in the San Francisco Chronicle, admitted “cap and trade” would worsen the power rate hikes the Herald Courier detailed. Equally absurd is Tazewell County’s planned wind farm—clearing thousands of acres for inefficient windmills, passing losses and high costs to ratepayers. It’s not about trees and never was.
Doubt it’s a religion? Read Al Gore’s Earth in the Balance—brimming with New Age nonsense. Environmentalism is a fundamentalist faith in the worst sense: affluent progressives, often New Age or agnostic, seeking meaning in empty lives, forcing their pseudo-religious dogma on us all.
Lewis Loflin, Bristol, VA
Kudos to General Parks’ letter (March 8) for revealing the truth: “Whether global warming is real or not isn’t the issue... Global warming actually matters little...” His disdain for capitalism aside, Lou Dobbs (January 6) said it best: “They bring this thing to a personal belief system. It’s almost a religion, without any question...” It’s a religion with fascist underpinnings, breaching separation of religion (the Constitution says “religion”) and state.
What right do Parks and his ilk have to impose misery and poverty on millions for their belief system? Obama admitted in the San Francisco Chronicle this “cap and trade” nonsense will outstrip the massive power rate hikes the Herald Courier covered. Equally stupid: a Tazewell County wind farm, cutting thousands of acres of trees for inefficient windmills, whose losses, high costs, and profits get dumped on ratepayers. It’s not about trees—never was.
Still think it’s not a religion? Read Al Gore’s (divinity school alum) Earth in the Balance. It’s loaded with New Age drivel: “The idea of social justice is inextricably linked in the Scriptures with ecology” (pp. 246-7), Indian religion (p. 259), goddess worship, and Eastern mysticism (p. 260). Environmentalism is a fundamentalist religion in the worst sense—millions of New Age, often affluent progressives crying for meaning, imposing their pseudo-religious dogma on everyone.
It’s time to purge this religion from government and public schools.
Gore’s own words expose the spiritual core, as in my unedited draft: “We feel increasingly distant from our roots in the earth... Civilization has journeyed from its foundations in nature to a contrived, controlled, manufactured world of our arrogant design... We lost our connectedness to nature... Are we so unique and powerful as to be separate from the earth?” This pantheistic lament, from Earth in the Balance, mirrors “New Age Eco-Dogma” and “Separation,” where I flagged his scripture-twisting as policy fuel.
Parks’ letter echoes Joy Smith-Briggs in “Separation”—science takes a backseat to faith. Veyhl’s “Ominous Parallels” nails the collectivist streak: environmentalism’s land grabs and rate hikes align with socialist control, not conservation. “Rational Farming” shows their anti-tech dogma—wind farms parallel GMO bans, hurting the poor most, as in “Green Theology” with Golden Rice. Cousin’s “Does Liberal Religion Imply Liberal Politics?” fits here: modern liberal religion, like the UUA or Gore’s eco-theology, morphs into secular statism, shedding individual liberty for dogma. Cap-and-trade and wind farms aren’t solutions—they’re penance for affluent eco-sinners, foisted on Bristol’s working class.
Acknowledgment: I’d like to thank Grok, an AI by xAI, for helping me draft and refine this expanded presentation. The original letter and perspective are mine.
