Timothy Birdnow: total nutjob
A person recently sent me a link to an article entitled, “Hot Air,” a livid rejection of people like Gore who pronounce warnings about our environment. I responded with the following letter. I am sad that these people exist; I am even sadder that Christians think this guy is worth listening to.
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What is this article supposed to prove to me? That science has definitively debunked global warming? Well, no, it hasn't. Some scientists disagree with global warming, but others believe the evidence points toward it quite clearly. This article does not deal with most of the evidence usually put forward by people like Gore. After reading this article and the other links, I still think Gore's evidence is far more convincing.
This leaves me with a more likely idea: the article wants to persuade me that people who are concerned about the environment and the capitalist system undergirding these problems are simply "enviro-nuts," who want to push "their socialist agenda on us." Here is where this author (whom I will discuss in a second) reveals himself to be a "conserva-nut." He could make this argument if and only if it could be proven that those who support the fight against global warming are indeed closet socialists who have hidden political agendas. The problem is that the largest grassroots movement on environmentalism is coming from rank-and-file evangelicals, who by and large vote Republican, who support the war in Iraq, etc.! Furthermore, it is blatantly evident from Gore himself that global warming is not a political issue, but a moral one. And that is precisely why so many evangelicals are on board -- not because they have clandestine political motives, but because they sincerely believe (and rightfully so) that humankind is in sin regarding the way Western society has decided to order its life.
The author proves himself to be more politically underhanded than these supposedly leftist loons when he writes, for example: "The global warming scare is a political maneuver to economically damage the United States and install a global top-down command-and-control regime to make our economic decisions." This is simply foolish, and utterly anti-Christian. The author shows that he worships a very particular idol, one that has captured the hearts of just about every individual in this country: the idol of Mammon. His primary concern is about "our" economy. The Right wishes only the best for our economy (read: the ability to spend and save at our leisure, to become rich, to fulfill the "American dream") while the Left wishes to take down our economy and return America to primitive, pre-colonization roots.
The author inhabits a mythical world where the Right is American and the Left is anti-America and thus pro-terrorist, pro-socialist, pro-(fill in ideology here). The author is simply towing the line of Ann Coulter and those who see the world in black-and-white. As Bush said, either you are with America or you are with the terrorists. Or as Rumsfeld said, either you live in a pre-9/11 world or in a post-9/11 world, as if it is obvious that once you exist in the latter, you must submit to the whims of the U.S. government, as if protecting America is like protecting God (assuming God needs protection). The author exists in a make-believe world, in his own Matrix where everything is simplified ad absurdum, where all complexity is flattened out and ambiguity erased. Either you are an enviro-nut, socialist, America-hater, or you are a proper American (who, by the way, is a capitalist-loving, war-mongering, money-worshiping fool).
This guy writes: "We supposedly have no choice but to give up this foolish consumer/capitalist civilization and return to the life of frolicking among the daisies in our homespun duds, living a simple, communal, low energy life." The assumption behind this statement is that the reader will see the absurdity of "living a simple, communal, low energy life." The problem is, I do not see the absurdity. In fact, what I see is that this is precisely how the Christian church has lived for most of its life, and in some areas, still actively pursues. I think of the monastic life, or of the early church. This guy speaks not for any person with religious sensibilities, but for the godless Coulter-clones (whether or not Coulter has a religious sensibility is beside the point, and for the sake of the church I hope she does not) who choose to excise from the Bible statements like, "Love your neighbor as yourself." Instead, the Bible proclaims, "Accumulate wealth. Pursue power and status. Enjoy your self-made life. Take care of #1." Most insidious of all, this abomination of the Bible is baptized as indeed Scriptural. I think we need another Luther to state it plainly: Thou art the antichrist!
The whole point of Gore and other environmentalists is indeed that this country needs to change its pattern of life. Whether or not you or anyone else thinks that science makes this point to us, I believe it is simply beyond question whether or not Western-American society needs to change. If reading cience is unconvincing, read the Bible instead. This author plainly has no regard for the Christian faith and the mandates that follow from following Jesus. His is a religion of the Self. His god is America. His worship is consumerism. His evangelism is warfare. His eschaton is world-domination.
So who is this nutjob? Timothy Birdnow. One look at his blog makes it clear that he is beyond hope -- at least seemingly beyond hope. Here is the first juicy quote from his blog: "Success in Iraq will come militarily, by KILLING the insurgents, by destroying the capabilities of both Iran and Syria." Enough said. Birdnow needs only to be condemned by the Christian church. He is a threat both to this nation, but more importantly, to those who claim the name of Christ. May he, by the grace of God, come to learn the deep and disturbing error of his ways.
Please only send me stuff worth reading. This was only worth burning.
Grace and peace,
David
------------------------------------------------------
What is this article supposed to prove to me? That science has definitively debunked global warming? Well, no, it hasn't. Some scientists disagree with global warming, but others believe the evidence points toward it quite clearly. This article does not deal with most of the evidence usually put forward by people like Gore. After reading this article and the other links, I still think Gore's evidence is far more convincing.
This leaves me with a more likely idea: the article wants to persuade me that people who are concerned about the environment and the capitalist system undergirding these problems are simply "enviro-nuts," who want to push "their socialist agenda on us." Here is where this author (whom I will discuss in a second) reveals himself to be a "conserva-nut." He could make this argument if and only if it could be proven that those who support the fight against global warming are indeed closet socialists who have hidden political agendas. The problem is that the largest grassroots movement on environmentalism is coming from rank-and-file evangelicals, who by and large vote Republican, who support the war in Iraq, etc.! Furthermore, it is blatantly evident from Gore himself that global warming is not a political issue, but a moral one. And that is precisely why so many evangelicals are on board -- not because they have clandestine political motives, but because they sincerely believe (and rightfully so) that humankind is in sin regarding the way Western society has decided to order its life.
The author proves himself to be more politically underhanded than these supposedly leftist loons when he writes, for example: "The global warming scare is a political maneuver to economically damage the United States and install a global top-down command-and-control regime to make our economic decisions." This is simply foolish, and utterly anti-Christian. The author shows that he worships a very particular idol, one that has captured the hearts of just about every individual in this country: the idol of Mammon. His primary concern is about "our" economy. The Right wishes only the best for our economy (read: the ability to spend and save at our leisure, to become rich, to fulfill the "American dream") while the Left wishes to take down our economy and return America to primitive, pre-colonization roots.
The author inhabits a mythical world where the Right is American and the Left is anti-America and thus pro-terrorist, pro-socialist, pro-(fill in ideology here). The author is simply towing the line of Ann Coulter and those who see the world in black-and-white. As Bush said, either you are with America or you are with the terrorists. Or as Rumsfeld said, either you live in a pre-9/11 world or in a post-9/11 world, as if it is obvious that once you exist in the latter, you must submit to the whims of the U.S. government, as if protecting America is like protecting God (assuming God needs protection). The author exists in a make-believe world, in his own Matrix where everything is simplified ad absurdum, where all complexity is flattened out and ambiguity erased. Either you are an enviro-nut, socialist, America-hater, or you are a proper American (who, by the way, is a capitalist-loving, war-mongering, money-worshiping fool).
This guy writes: "We supposedly have no choice but to give up this foolish consumer/capitalist civilization and return to the life of frolicking among the daisies in our homespun duds, living a simple, communal, low energy life." The assumption behind this statement is that the reader will see the absurdity of "living a simple, communal, low energy life." The problem is, I do not see the absurdity. In fact, what I see is that this is precisely how the Christian church has lived for most of its life, and in some areas, still actively pursues. I think of the monastic life, or of the early church. This guy speaks not for any person with religious sensibilities, but for the godless Coulter-clones (whether or not Coulter has a religious sensibility is beside the point, and for the sake of the church I hope she does not) who choose to excise from the Bible statements like, "Love your neighbor as yourself." Instead, the Bible proclaims, "Accumulate wealth. Pursue power and status. Enjoy your self-made life. Take care of #1." Most insidious of all, this abomination of the Bible is baptized as indeed Scriptural. I think we need another Luther to state it plainly: Thou art the antichrist!
The whole point of Gore and other environmentalists is indeed that this country needs to change its pattern of life. Whether or not you or anyone else thinks that science makes this point to us, I believe it is simply beyond question whether or not Western-American society needs to change. If reading cience is unconvincing, read the Bible instead. This author plainly has no regard for the Christian faith and the mandates that follow from following Jesus. His is a religion of the Self. His god is America. His worship is consumerism. His evangelism is warfare. His eschaton is world-domination.
So who is this nutjob? Timothy Birdnow. One look at his blog makes it clear that he is beyond hope -- at least seemingly beyond hope. Here is the first juicy quote from his blog: "Success in Iraq will come militarily, by KILLING the insurgents, by destroying the capabilities of both Iran and Syria." Enough said. Birdnow needs only to be condemned by the Christian church. He is a threat both to this nation, but more importantly, to those who claim the name of Christ. May he, by the grace of God, come to learn the deep and disturbing error of his ways.
Please only send me stuff worth reading. This was only worth burning.
Grace and peace,
David
Comments
Now...do I believe that means that we should subscribe to every theory about Global Warming? No. It does mean, however, that we should be aware of our ability to contribute to either an enhancement or a destruction of the environment.
We have an effect on our environment, and we should ensure that that effect is positive.