This is a very interesting article, and a pretty close parallel to my own thinking these days.
The obvious examples of secularized religions are communism, socialism, and fascism, each of which generally involves worshipping government by slightly different rituals or for slightly different reasons. As these convictions faded, faith in the welfare state, and especially environmental protection, has risen to take their place for reasons government should be worshipped. Environmentalist devotees claim that we will experience the apocalypse disasters, for which some people are rebuilding Noah’s Ark. These disasters can be prevented if we take the advice of prophets people who understand, like Al Gore. Of course, if we sin pollute a little too much, well, we can always buy indulgences carbon offsets.
It’s exactly right to call Algore’s brand of environuttism a religion, because it’s all about faith, transforming humans, and not remotely about science. My quibble is that, to me, Atheism is also a religion, because it relies on unprovable, ergo mystical, knowledge. But I think I know what kind of atheist he means.
Another way to put it, stated with intended irony, is “by their fruits ye shall know them”. I now judge the world’s religions by what sort of people they produce. Judaism and Christianity have, in the last few centuries, become what Douglas Adams called “mostly harmless”. The “Religion of Peace”, on the other hand, has some serious growing up to do.
