Oh Really?

Deep Ecology Loves Creation

“What have you been up to this weekend, Mike?” “I have spent the whole weekend in
the bush, stopping hunters from culling kangaroos.” “Why would you do that, given
that there are far too many kangaroos around Canberra and that they are all suffering
starvation death unless the numbers are brought down?” “It is wrong to kill. Who are
we to be god over other life and to decide what is to live and what is to die?” “So you
think it is wrong to kill anything at all?” “Absolutely!” was the adamant response.
“Let me ask you: Have you had a shower lately?” “What kind of question is that? Of
course I have, I take a shower at least once a day!” “Oh, Mike! How could you?!”
“How could I what?” “Don’t you know that every time you take a shower you kill
millions of dust mites? Those poor, little, entirely harmless and defenseless creatures
do not stand a chance with the onslaught of all that water cascading over them. They
all drown in the blink of an eye! How could you? No, don’t scratch your head! You
will kill still more of the little creatures!”

Mike is a self-proclaimed Deep Ecologist. He worships the Earth, Gaia, and all that
grows and moves on it. The central idea of Deep Ecology is that we are part of the
Earth, rather than apart and separate from it and he has bought into that worldview.

As we move from just seeing ourselves as 'individuals' towards seeing ourselves as

part of the earth, we are expected to become more caring of the Earth and all its
constituents. “Earth is not just here for us. There are 8.4 million other species on earth
and they have as much intrinsic value and right to be a live undisturbed and
unpolluted is the meaning of Deep Ecology. Giving nature the rightful place and
preserving nature in its intrinsic value is pertinent. A river has a right to flow
unpolluted, uncontaminated and un-dammed. When we take something from nature,
we receive it as a gift, thankfully, and we respect it and we give back to it,” says Deep
Ecologist and Buddhist Satish Kumar on YouTube.

Man has devalued to the ultimate egalitarian position in Deep Ecology. Initially he
was created as vicegerent under God, called to rule the Earth. Ever since the Fall in to
sin we have seen what is nowadays called a rebellion against human exceptionalism,
the view that mankind is unique above all other created beings and matter. Spain, for
example, has passed the Great Ape Project into law, declaring that chimpanzees and
gorillas are part of the “community of equals” with people. Switzerland has declared
that individual plants have “intrinsic dignity” and that “decapitating” wildflowers is a
great moral wrong. Ecuador’s new constitution provides for “rights of nature” that are
equal to those of man. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has a website called
“Planet Slayer” aimed at children. It features “Dr. Schpinkee’s Greenhouse
Calculator,” which helps kids add up their carbon score, a game that ends with a
“carbon hog” bloodily exploding. Above its remains a legend appears, telling the
respondent how much longer he can live before he will have used up his “share of the
planet.”

Here and abroad, environmentalism itself seems to be evolving from a movement

dedicated to conserving resources, preserving pristine areas, and protecting
endangered species into an anti-humanistic ideology that increasingly views

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humankind as a scourge that literally threatens the existence of “the planet.” The Deep
Ecology movement, inspired by Norwegian philosopher Arne Næss in the 1970s,
promotes an “environmental egalitarianism” based on the belief that nature and its
parts should be given equal consideration with human beings.

Once flora and fauna were elevated to the level of human importance, it didn’t take
long to brand human exceptionalism (e.g. Christianity) as arrogant and harmful to
nature. Identifying ourselves as the villains, in turn, led to a demoralizing view that
likens humanity to viral infection afflicting the planet. Thus, Paul Watson, the
dedicated head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society: “The planet’s ecosystem is
a collective living organism and operates very much like the human body. . . .
Humans are presently acting upon this body in the same manner as an invasive virus
with the result that we are eroding the ecological immune system. A virus kills its host
and that is exactly what we are doing with our planet’s support system. . . . Curing a
body of cancer requires radical and invasive therapy, and therefore, curing the
biosphere of the human virus will also require a radical and invasive approach.”

The eco-feminist theologian (!) Rosemary Radford Ruether also has a low view of
humanity. She favours Deep Ecology, saying, “We are the parasites on the food chain
of life, consuming more and more, and putting too little back to restore and maintain
the life system that supports us." Ruether told those who attended a May 1998
conference that "We need to seek the most compassionate way of weeding out people.
To allow unrestrained fertility is not pro-life. A good gardener weeds and thins his
seedlings to allow the proper amount of room for the plants to grow. We need to seek
the most compassionate way of weeding out people. Our current pro-life movement is
really killing people through disease and poverty. In place of the pro-life movement
we need to develop the 'spirituality of recycling. We need to compost ourselves'."
Ruether also told the conference: "Nature does not need us to rule over it. We are
parasites, utterly dependent upon the rest of the food chain. Nature would be much
better off without us. "Al Gore tends to agree with her as he is known to express the
same sentiments in a speech.

Deep Ecologists push radical depopulation, perhaps to as few as 500 million people
worldwide, as the best medicine to cure the human infection and again permit nature
— as opposed to us — to flourish. (I for one am waiting for them to lead by example,
to put their money where their mouth is, but I am waiting still.)

It is tempting to roll one’s eyes and dismiss Deep Ecology’s anti-humanism as merely
being a fringe phenomenon. However, even Hollywood has bought into Deep
Ecology and has promoted the movement’s anti-human beliefs in major motion
pictures, for example in the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still, which originally
had the saving of mankind in the plot, has in the remake the goal to slaughter
humanity. The business world seeks frantically to make its products more attractive
by finding stickers to place on them which assure the customer that the product is
absolutely the best choice possible for the environment. I have been assured that
cotton hand towels in lavatories are really the only responsible way of drying my
hands and please Gaia. In another one I read the same about air hand drying and about
paper towels.

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Satan’s deception has reached its ultimate success in Deep Ecology. He promised
Adam and Eve that they would be like gods (Genesis 3:5). Instead man showed an
immediate desire to meld in with nature as God sought him out after the act of
disobedience. This desire has become increasingly pressing on those who have not
been restored to a healed relationship with their Maker. As man is created a spiritual
being he must worship something, it is in his make up. Instead of ruling the world for
God, he now identifies himself as part of Gaia, this living organism from which all
life emanates. He now sees himself as equal to animals, plants and inanimate
substance of what shapes the world. He has no other option. He believes that all that
exists came forth out of non-life (Darwin) and therefore inanimate matter is actually
the womb from which he and all else have sprung. The Earth Mother has given him
life and is to be worshipped as life giver. Man has reached for the stars and became
philosophically part of them, making himself equal – not with God – but with
inanimate matter.

The consequences for Christians are already being felt. It is unacceptable to talk about
your beliefs in most places of business. It is politically incorrect. Christianity is hated
by Deep Ecologists because Christians regard man still as ruler of creation under God,
rather than equal part of one cosmic unity which includes all living and non-living.
Already in Isaiah’s day the danger of Deep Ecology was present as we may read
(Is.44:14-17), “He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak,
which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash,
and the rain doth nourish it. Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take
thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a
god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto. He
burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and
is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire:
And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto
it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.

Deep Ecologists would be absolutely delighted with such a man. He is on the right
path of worshipping the Earth. To our God and Redeemer, however, such a worldview
is an abomination and a manifestation of man’s fall into sin’s abyss. Pray for the
Mikes of this world that they may, by God’s grace, come to see their true and exalted
origin, and honour the God Who gave them the dirt to walk on rather than to be a
philosophical part of.

Dr Herm Zandman
21/04/2010