Global Warming, &c.

Cal Thomas decries the fundamentalism of the Global Warming zealots (bracketed red comments mine):

In every child's life there comes a time when childhood fantasies are shattered and he or she is forced to accept reality - there is no Santa Claus or tooth fairy; parents don't always mean it when they promise to stay married until parted by death.

Grown-up scientists, theologians, historians, archaeologists and others who pursue facts and objective truths are rooted in reality and constantly adjusting their conclusions, theories and hypotheses when new information comes to light. Those who ignore facts and cling to outdated information, or outright falsehoods, can quickly embrace fanaticism.
 [Of course, this can go either way...]

So it is with "global warming," the secular religion of our day that even has a good number of adherents among people of faith. Having decided to focus less on the eternal and whether anyone dwells there, global warming fundamentalists are pushing planet worship on us in a manner that would make a jihadist proud.
 [The eternal, and whether or not anyone resides there is completely beside the point. Global warming, or even its possibility, is a time-sensitive issue. "Planet worship"? Please...just because I would rather not see the Earth a frying hellhole in a couple hundred years does not make me a treehugger!]

There are at least two characteristics all fundamentalists share. One is the exclusion and sometimes suppression of any and all information that challenges or contradicts the belief one wishes to impose on all. The other is the use of the state in pursuit of their objectives, overriding the majority's will.
 [Blind obedience to predetermined diktats of faith are always bad, and this is why climate study includes things like "studies" and "evidence"—wonderful tools lacking from the religious fundamentalist's toolbox.]

....

The Earth has warmed and cooled over many centuries. One can get a sense of who is telling the truth about global warming by the company the concept keeps. Most of the disciples of global warming are liberal Democrats who never have enough of our money and believe there are never enough regulations concerning the way we lead our lives. That ought to be enough to give everyone pause, along with emerging evidence that the global warming jihadists may be more full of hot air than the climate they claim is about to burn us up.
 [Perhaps, but it generally warms up after a long period of being really fucking cold. You can also get a sense of who is telling the truth by looking at these great things that we have called "facts."]

National Geographic gives us some quick facts on global warming.

Meanwhile, Rolling Stone—that unrecalcitrant panderer of liberal propaganda—tells us that the debate is over.

Bill Moyers has a great section of his website dedicated to religion and the environment.

What really boggles my mind is the sheer hostility with which right-wing Christians meet the very possibility of global warming. It seems that if people were behaving rationally (which they seldom do), they would look at the scientific evidence in front of them, and survey the information at hand. All the denials and shenanigans make me want to think that certain right-wing evangelicals want the world to "burn up" in the hope of the Messiah's return. This hope, of course, is sick and twisted. That being the case, they can't possibly admit their true motivations, so they go into denial mode. Not cool at all.