Modern Idolatry
[Let me start off by apologizing. I recognize that the below will offend virtually every reader, because I describe behaviour and thought patterns that are very common in modern society. Please try to read with an open mind.]
People think that when the Bible speaks of idolatry, it is talking of an almost-prehistoric desire that we cannot really comprehend today. After all, whom among us worships the sun or the moon – or even has the slightest desire to do so?
And yet the Bible harps on this point repeatedly, that somehow idolatry is something that can seep into a culture, slowly gaining adherents who see it not as idolatry, but as something much more benign. Such idolatry can seem quite harmless, and is often billed as an improvement or refinement of religion itself.
I submit to you that, under the guise of reason and science, we are in the age of Earth Worship today, and that it fulfills every criteria we have of idol worship given in the Torah and by the classic medieval Jewish sages.
Chief among them was Moses Maimonides, the Rambam. He defined idolatry as including an act of worship toward any created thing, or to believe that a particular created thing is an independent power. (Hilkhot Avodat Kokhavim (Avodah Zarah) - The Laws of Strange Worship (Idolatry).
Let’s start by identifying the deity. It is called a variety of names: Mother Earth, Gaia, The Environment, and, most pervasively, Nature. But it all comes to the very same thing: worship of the unsoiled (by man) biosphere in which we live.
How can I say that Earth Worship is not merely science, or even just good sense? The answer is that the Green movement, in all its forms, refuses to be swayed by reality. Consider:
- Man-Made Global Warming has become an article of faith despite all the facts to the contrary.
- Recycling is considered a moral imperative, despite not having any real net benefit to either mankind or the earth.
- People eat “natural” or “organic” foods despite no scientific evidence whatsoever that eating them (instead of similar amounts of refined foods) actually makes one healthier.
All of the above are actually expressions of religious devotion, entirely disconnected from reality – or indeed, any desire to be educated about reality.
And like all religions, followers of Nature include many who are in it for the sake of appearances – not for any demonstrated benefit.
- People buy Priuses instead of Hummers despite the evidence that, if the owners actually cared, they would buy and drive the SUV instead.
- Being seen as adhering to the religion is more important than actually practicing it. Indeed, this link shows that people preferentially put solar panels on the street side of their home, even when that is the shady side of the house, and therefore not likely to provide meaningful benefit.
So if Nature Worship is actually idolatry, then how is this religion practiced?
We can start with the indoctrination in schools. From the youngest age, children who are too young to know any polysyllabic words are taught that “The Environment” is the most important thing of all. And, the children are sanctimoniously informed, there are many things that we must do for the sake of the Environment. For example, it is essential that we go through a daily service to the idol, one in which we debase ourselves for the sake of the deity. I refer, of course, to sorting through our trash for the ritual known as “Recycling”. Mandatory recycling has been debunked , but nobody wants to know: recycling has become an article of faith.
In accordance with the prioritization of the Earth above G-d – and even mankind - people sacrifice their very fertility. Many thousands of earth-worshippers have surgically sterilized themselves in order to avoid even the risk of putting more people on the earth. Again, nobody seems to want to know the facts - that the Earth could support many, many people than it currently does. Once something is an article of faith, questioning it is heresy.
This is the nature of our modern idolatry. Like the ancient worship of false deities, worshipping the earth is seen as entirely unobjectionable, even sensible. Like the old adage about the downside risks of becoming religious on one’s deathbed, the Precautionary Principle suggests that even if there is no evidence that something might hurt the earth, we should ban it “just in case”.
And just like serving ancient deities, people subject themselves to hardship to show their devotion to the cause. I am sure there are some people who truly prefer whole wheat bread, just as there must be children who actually don’t like to drink sugary drinks. And I know people who swear, up one side and down the other, that almost entirely inedible foodstuffs that most birds would not touch are in fact delicious. But on the whole, I think it is clear that refusing to eat refined foods and insisting that somehow “natural” foods are superior (again, despite the scientific evidence) is in fact just another way to show one’s devotion to the deity. And we take it to extremes that put even our own children at risk: we malnourish children by withholding essential proteins (meat) and brain-building cholesterols (found in butter and mayonnaise), as well as pressuring women to breastfeed because it is “natural” – even in those cases where, on the evidence, breastfeeding is more dangerous than giving formula.
If nature is good, and people are bad, then the worst thing of all is when people mess with nature! How else can we explain the irrational hysteria over giving animals antibiotics or growth hormones that help them grow and stay healthy and productive? Or the kneejerk opposition to genetically modified foods that have saved millions of people from blindness, and promise to produce healthy foodstuffs with less required resources – like improved fish . To True Believers, all GM foodstuffs are nothing less than dangerous and heretical attacks on the Deity Herself. Because, as common wisdom tells us, Nature is wonderful and perfect just as it is, and anything we do to alter it is, by definition, wrong. The reflexive belief that what mankind does must be worse than what Nature produces is itself evidence of this idolatrous doctrine. Logically, we could turn this on its head, to suggest that what mankind does is better than Nature – after all, civilization and technology build complexity, pushing back against the natural entropic decay processes.
None of the above is to suggest that it is good to engage in gratuitous destruction of the natural world. Clean water and breathable air are wonderful things, but they are wonderful primarily because they benefit mankind – either through our consumption or other forms of enjoyment. The litmus test ought to be simple: if we do something that is Green because it truly benefits people, then we are following common sense. But when we are Green for other reasons, then it is not just irrational: it is wrong.
- Comment (62)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (3)
Comments :
Jun '11
Re: Modern Idolatry
You're definitely on to something with the idea that idolatry takes a form that most wouldn't even recognize as such.
A sad anecdote: I was teaching a catechism class at my church last year, and one of my students, who had just failed utterly and completely to recite her assigned Commandment, was aghast when I threw my can of Diet Dr. Pepper in the trash. "You have to recycle, Pastor!" That's when it occurred to me that she had been well-catechized by her public school in a different set of commandments, and they were what animated her. "Thou shalt recycle" is the first and greatest commandment. (I'm not against recycling - but these kids have been indoctrinated in it in a way I cannot even grasp.)
Aug '11
Re: Modern Idolatry
And this new God whose name is "Nature," can never be satisfied. Clean air and clean water were never enough. The God demands more and more sacrifices. Since, a fundamental presupposition of this religion is that nature is all good and humanity is all bad, the religion seems to require the step by step reduction of humans to the stone age or even to extinction.
Aug '11
Re: Modern Idolatry
In some ways, J. J. Rousseau invented this God in the 17th century. Only natural man (alone and totally without civilization) could be considered free of sin. In his own way Rousseau was a Calvinist.
Incidentally, Jordan in his history of the Great Famine, points out that Nature only became a benevolent and pure godlike thing with Rousseau, because it was only in the 18th century that naturally caused famine were no longer the greatest threat to human existence.
Aug '11
Re: Modern Idolatry
In some ways, J. J. Rousseau invented this God in the 17th century. Only natural man (alone and totally without civilization) could be considered free of sin. In his own way Rousseau was a Calvinist.
Incidentally, Jordan in his history of the Great Famine, points out that Nature only became a benevolent and pure godlike thing with Rousseau, because it was only in the 18th century that naturally caused famine were no longer the greatest threat to human existence.
Aug '10
Re: Modern Idolatry
I just saw this item on my google reader feed,
“Ziplocs are the biggest misstep,” said Julie Corbett, a mother in Oakland, Calif., whose two girls attend a school with an eco-friendly lunch policy. In school years past, she said, many a morning came unhinged when the girls were sent to school with disposable sandwich bags.
“That’s when the kids have meltdowns, because they don’t want to be shamed at school,” Ms. Corbett said. “It’s a big deal.”
Shamed at school? for Ziplocs?
The school has succeeded in all of its education goals that it can now focus energy on ziplocs? Sounds like they are definitely overpaid.
Now I know the earth worship is really over the top into idolatry.
Thank God I live in the south.
Edited on Aug 28, 2011 at 5:18pmAug '10
Re: Modern Idolatry
Until it was caused by the Communists in the 20th century.
Jul '10
Re: Modern Idolatry
"If nature is good, and people are bad, then the worst thing of all is when people mess with nature."
I tell 'em it's evolution. It's destiny that I destroy this planet.
Instugator:
“That’s when the kids have meltdowns, because they don’t want to be shamed at school,” Ms. Corbett said. “It’s a big deal.”
Shamed at school? for Ziplocs?. · Aug 28 at 5:17pm
Edited on Aug 28 at 05:18 pm
They can plop out babies or have abortions when teenagers, but that's acceptable.
Ziplocs? Ostracize 'em!
Dec '10
Re: Modern Idolatry
These same people also want to ban any activity they consider unsafe (read anything they are not skilled enough to do successfully). All idolatry is a form of self worship, and these people have it bad.
Jun '11
Re: Modern Idolatry
The idol is oneself. It is part of my moral authority to take care of the planet. I feel the correct degree of compassion for any issue. Don't lay the God of the Bible's standards on me. I know better. I watch the network news. I went to college and graduate school. I'm too intelligent to go to church.
The largest religion in the world today is secularism. Adherents to secularism do not even know that they are immersed in the secularist doctrine.
Oct '10
Re: Modern Idolatry
You correctly define the idolatry of this modern age, and condemn the gaia worship which has led man to turn his back on the Creator God. Unfortunately you have failed to distinguish between personal preferences and serious offenses to God. You have geatly diluted your arguments by doing so.
My wife and I have followed God together since we met over 43 years ago in Bible college. We have also been grinding out own grains and baking our own wheat products for over 40 years. We love gardening, and grow our own organic vegetables. If you cannot distinguish between a home grown organic tomato and the store bought golf balls at the supermarket than I regret to inform you that you simply lack the ability to appreciate good food.
God, not gaia, created this world, and He has ordained that we care for and respect His creation. Sadly, satan's perversion of God's will is gaia worship. Nevertheless, the Creator God is the one who gave us this natural world. We can enjoy it as He created it, or develop alternative ways to keep his commandment by respecting and improving on what we have been given.
But do not confuse personal preference with piety.
Edited on Aug 28, 2011 at 7:13pmJun '10
Re: Modern Idolatry
Terrell David: The idol is oneself. It is part of my moral authority to take care of the planet. I feel the correct degree of compassion for any issue. Don't lay the God of the Bible's standards on me. I know better. I watch the network news. I went to college and graduate school. I'm too intelligent to go to church.
The largest religion in the world today is secularism. Adherents to secularism do not even know that they are immersed in the secularist doctrine. · Aug 28 at 6:58pm
You do understand what secularism is, don't you? Secularism is merely the desire to have government that is not religious in nature or mandate, essentially a government that is not theocratic. Secularism rejects religion as it pertains to governance or is indifferent to religion but it doesn't reject religion outside government and does not call for the elimination of religion. The Constitution may be based on a good deal of Judeo-Christian laws and ethics but it is by and large a secular document that excludes religious oaths and mandates. As far as the nations of Islam are concerned, secularism would be most welcome.
Oct '10
Re: Modern Idolatry
Brian Watt
You do understand what secularism is, don't you? Secularism is merely the desire to have government that is not religious in nature or mandate, essentially a government that is not theocratic. Secularism rejects religion as it pertains to governance or is indifferent to religion but it doesn't reject religion outside government and does not call for the elimination of religion. The Constitution may be based on a good deal of Judeo-Christian laws and ethics but it is by and large a secular document that excludes religious oaths and mandates. As far as the nations of Islam are concerned, secularism would be most welcome. · Aug 28 at 7:15pm
If secularism were such a benign religion, then Christians and Jews would have little to concern ourselves with. The Founders disagreed somewhat on the expression of their Jewishness or Christianity, but none offended God by claiming His irrelevence.
Regarding Islam, what records we have of the Founders view of Islam, and they are considerable, view it as hostile to the Judeo-Christian foundation of this country.
Secularism, as such, did not get a lot of attention because it was considered more of a perversion than even Islam.
Jun '10
Re: Modern Idolatry
raycon
Brian Watt
Secularism is merely the desire to have government that is not religious in nature or mandate, essentially a government that is not theocratic. Secularism rejects religion as it pertains to governance or is indifferent to religion but it doesn't reject religion outside government and does not call for the elimination of religion. ...
If secularism were such a benign religion, then Christians and Jews would have little to concern ourselves with. The Founders disagreed somewhat on the expression of their Jewishness or Christianity, but none offended God by claiming His irrelevence.
[edited for length]
Secularism, as such, did not get a lot of attention because it was considered more of a perversion than even Islam. · Aug 28 at 7:25pm
You're applying a definition of secularism that is incorrect. It isn't a religion. It's essentially the opposite of a theocracy nothing more. If you want a theocracy that's fine. Just define what kind of theocracy you want. A Catholic theocracy? A Jewish theocracy? A Baptist theocracy? Like it or not the United States has a secular form of government. Deal with it.
Jul '11
Re: Modern Idolatry
iWc:
If nature is good, and people are bad, then the worst thing of all is when people mess with nature! How else can we explain the irrational hysteria over giving animals antibiotics or growth hormones that help them grow and stay healthy and productive? ·
There is at least one other reason for the objection to the use of antibiotics in large-scale livestock farming. It is that it greatly increases the incidence of antibiotic-resistant strains that are deadly to people. Whether this is true I don't know. But it's not idolatry.
Jun '10
Re: Modern Idolatry
Raycon - Christians and Jews should have absolutely nothing to fear from a secular government that guarantees freedom of religion as the U.S. Constitution does while at the same time not establishing a state religion. That is all that is meant by secularism. This system has worked fairly well for the last 235 years. If you believe that secularism is somehow attempting to destroy religions then you don't really understand what secularism is. The establishment of a state religion would certainly be something that would cause serious problems in America and could even cause violence and reprisals. Jefferson and Madison had it right. They had learned the lessons of the English Civil War over 130 years before the American Revolution and other religious conflicts before that and wisely chose to restrict the establishment of a state religion.
Jun '10
Re: Modern Idolatry
Gaianism is indeed a New Age religion with all the attendant pagan rituals and worship of nature. If they really understood nature, they would understand it to be a much more malevolent force than anything humankind could conjure up considering that entire galaxies can be obliterated by gamma ray bursts, supernovae or sucked into black holes. Unfortunately these flower children no longer drop acid and spin in circles in Golden Gate Park but now have positions of authority in academia and government. It will take years to rid ourselves of this idiocy.
Edited on Aug 28, 2011 at 8:06pmAug '11
Re: Modern Idolatry
1. There have been plenty of politically caused famines since the 18th century (caused by war, communism, colonialism) but probably no naturally caused famines. Amartya Sen has shown with empirical evidence that there have been no famines (natural or political) since 1948 in any nation, not at war, with at least two functioning political parties. His comparison between India and China during this period are totally convincing. Famines are very easy to stop although malnutrition may not be.
2. It's not clear what some of the posts mean by a "secular" government. If Brian Watt is going back to the English Civil War -- which I think we must do on this point -- then secular means something like religiously neutral. But the argument for a religiously neutral government is itself an argument which grew out of the intensely religious convictions of men like Roger Williams and later John Locke. On that reading, the notion of secular government is itself a dissenting Protestant view.
May '10
Re: Modern Idolatry
Secularism:
Secularism is, by definition, a non-religion.
Aug '11
Re: Modern Idolatry
Michael Labeit
Secularism:
Secularism is, by definition, a non-religion. · Aug 28 at 9:53pm
On this definition of secularism, we may have a secular government today. In 1776 we had what the Founders considered a religiously neutral national government -- although a fair number of the states still had established churches.
Oct '10
Re: Modern Idolatry
cbc
Michael Labeit
Secularism:
Secularism is, by definition, a non-religion. · Aug 28 at 9:53pm
On this definition of secularism, we may have a secular government today. In 1776 we had what the Founders considered a religiously neutral national government -- although a fair number of the states still had established churches. · Aug 28 at 10:10pm
Perhaps secularism can be looked at as benign, but the perversion of that original concept, mainly secular humanism, is both cancerous and aggressive and has a particular hostility towards Western Judeo-Christianity.