| Al Gore vs. Christianity | |||
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| Netlore Archive | |||
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Email text contributed by T. Jones, 5 Dec 2000:
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Subject: AL Gore re: Christianity THE NOTORIOUS QUOTE OF THE DAY "Refusing to accept the earth as our sacred mother, these Christians have become a dangerous threat to the survival of humanity. They are the blight on the environment and to believe in Bible prophecy is unforgivable." EARTH IN BALANCE, p.342 |
Comments: The only justification for this quotation being described as "notorious" is that it was made up. The words are not Al Gore's, nor, so far as I can tell, do they express his sentiments. There's no such statement to be found in Gore's book, "Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit" (Houghton Mifflin, 1992).
The following ungrammatical variant is also circulating:
| For Gore and other environmentalists, the Judeo-Christain faith is the source of ecological evil, from oil spills to global warming. He said, "Ignorant Christians who are afraid to open their minds to teachings first offered outside their own system of belief by refusing to accept that the earth is our sacred mother, Christians have become a dangerous threat to the survival of humanity...blights on the environment." |
Again, there's no evidence in the pages of "Earth in the Balance" or anywhere else that Al Gore actually said or wrote these words. It's pure political disinformation.
Additional comments by Karen Eiler: Since I'm never one to just "gasp and forward" without checking the
facts for myself, I went to the library this morning and checked out a copy
of "Earth in the Balance." While I certainly could not find
anything even close to the above, I did find a passage which could be
twisted into something close ... maybe, if you worked hard at it.
Anyway, here's what Al Gore really did say:
From this and other passages, it's clear that Gore considers himself a Christian
and defends Christianity's stance on the environment. Throughout his book I
find examples of flawed theology and reasoning, but I agree with his overall
premise that we are to be stewards of the earth and its resources.
— Karen Eiler
For some Christians, the prophetic vision of the apocalypse is used — in
my view, unforgivably — as an excuse for abdicating their responsibility to
be good stewards of God's creation. Secretary of the Interior James Watt,
who deserved his reputation as an anti-environmentalist, was once quoted as
belittling concerns about environmental protection in part because it would
all be destroyed by God in the apocalypse. Not only is this idea heretical
in terms of Christian teachings, it is an appallingly self-fulfilling
prophesy of doom. ("Earth in the Balance," p. 263)
