Yet more global warming alarmists are linking environmentalism with religion. Here are a couple of recent discussions of this topic.

The first comes from Thaddeus Russell, someone who is concerned about AGW but dislikes the religiousity.

Here is an excerpt from his 12/19/2009 piece, “Blame the Smug Climate Warriors“:

…Many climate-change deniers and even some who accept global warming as a fact, like the authors of Superfreakonomics, have attacked what they call the “religion of climate change.” Al Gore is often singled out for raising the discourse on the issue to a supernatural level, thus taking it out of the realm of human questioning.

Though Gore’s books, speeches, and Oscar-winning film on the issue are chock full of secular scientific information, they are also laced with biblical references. And Gore himself has said that climate change is “ultimately a moral and spiritual issue.”

Gore recently told Newsweek that since the publication of An Inconvenient Truth, he has trained Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and Hindu clergy to spread his message.

He admitted that he uses a version of the “Inconvenient Truth” slide show that is “filled with scriptural references.” Moreover, “It’s probably my favorite version, but I don’t use it very often because it can come off as proselytizing.”

The Gore interview with Newsweek can be found in the 11/19/2009 story by Sharon Begley “The Evolution of an Eco-Prophet“. Here are a couple of excerpts:

Asked how he reconciles that realization with the wonkish content of the book, Gore at first seems stymied. But then, when I prompt him, he points to pages on the spiritual dimension of climate change, the idea that God gave man stewardship over the earth, and that preserving it for future generations is a sacred obligation. Then he opens his laptop to show a commercial by his Alliance for Climate Protection, in which the Revs. Al Sharpton and Pat Robertson make an odd-couple plea for “taking care of the planet.”

Gore allows that he’s been tailoring the slide-show training he gives to faith-based volunteer groups. “I’ve done a Christian [-based] training program; I have a Muslim training program and a Jewish training program coming up, also a Hindu program coming up. I trained 200 Christian ministers and lay leaders here in Nashville in a version of the slide show that is filled with scriptural references. It’s probably my favorite version, but I don’t use it very often because it can come off as proselytizing.”

In the Newsweek interview, Gore cites reason and the Enlightenment (!) as two of his major influences:

So, if efficiency is so great and saves so much money (leave aside the CO2 part), I ask, why don’t businesses do it? “You know, I was raised in an Enlightenment-influenced family,” Gore says. “Both my parents were such believers in the preeminence of reason, and I still believe all that.”

Al Gore is as much a defender of the Enlightment as President Obama is a defender of capitalism.