On April 20th, Easter
Sunday, a letter to the editor from Richard Pluth of
Casselberry was published in the local newspaper entitled ‘Worshipping the
creation’, claiming an undefined ‘some’, later identified as ‘modern
environmentalists’, had created a new religion that, in his words, worships a
mass of rock and soil on Earth Day.
Mr. Pluth
asserts that this environmental religion has spawned new high priests known
as scientists, is infallible, its orthodoxy cannot be questioned, and the
commandments are not to be debated or challenged. All these are pointed out to
the reader as unmistakably negative attributes. Yet the religion he is contrasting
it with is every bit as undesirable. The Christian bible is claimed to be the infallible
word of God simply because it says so. Christianity brooks no debate or challenge
to the commandments, its orthodoxy cannot be questioned, and it has rewards and
punishments. Those who don’t conform will not only be ostracized, the believers
will tell them they are going to hell. As little as five hundred years ago, the
non-believers would have been burned at the stake. Nothing says a belief is
true like the threat of death if you don’t subscribe to it. The message of God
of the bible is: “You humans that I created have offended me. Here, take my son
and murder him so I can forgive you.” And He loves us so much; He created a
special place called hell just in case we don’t love Him back. That is not the hallmark of an intelligent creator.
For reasons only Mr. Pluth can explain, he also juxtaposes Vladimir Lenin’s birthday with the same date as Earth Day, April 22nd, as though one had something to do with the other. Lenin may have been many things, but an environmentalist he was not. He didn’t give a damn about the environment, only building up the Soviet state at any and all cost. His faith was in communism, not environmentalism. Mr. Pluth starts off his article by mentioning ironies but fails
to note that this Easter Sunday is also the birthdate of Adolf Hitler. So if
Lenin and Earth Day are synonymous, does that mean there is a correlation between Easter and the Fuhrer?
When it
comes to science, Mr. Pluth’s scorn for rationality comes out at the end of his
letter where he claims he puts his trust in a dead man who walked out of a
grave. Isn’t that the description of a zombie…a dead being who walks out of a
grave? And that is supposed to be a valid argument against science?
What we can
agree on is that religion or faith is not a good thing.
