Environmentalism as Religion

The Corner on National Review Online

There's nothing very new about the idea that environmentalism (in at least some of its forms) is evolving into a form of religion. After all, it's over ten years since Harvey Mansfield described it as 'school prayer for liberals'. Following that logic, a blind faith in the direst consequences of global warming fits nicely into the apocalyptic traditions of many religions. Ragnarok? The Last Judgment? An Inconvenient Truth? Take your pick.

It may, alas, be necessary to pay some lip service to this new religion, but lip service is all it should be. Dealing with the real problems that there are (or may be) will require something else, the adoption of an environmentalism of doubt, questioning, skeptical and incrementalist. Above all, there must be a willingness to shove back against the worst of the nonsense that's now being preached.