Some atheists have a tendency to refer to God as the sky fairy.
Why I don’t know, because it hardly makes for a constructive debate. However, there
may be a touch of jealousy behind the jibe because many atheists have a sky fairy
of their own. They call her climate - or maybe that should be Climate? So what
is the Climate sky fairy all about?
- She has her clerics in the guise of climate scientists.
- She has her synods such as COP17.
- She has her theology in the guise of climate science.
- She has her holy texts such as IPCC reports.
- She has her apocalyptic predictions.
- She has her threats against the unbeliever.
- She has her lay preachers.
- She has her parables and morality tales.
- She has her sects such as Greenpeace and WWF.
- She has her gurus.
- She has her laws.
- She has her official totems such as wind turbines and the colour green.
- She has her lay totems such as the Toyota Prius and solar panels.
- She has her apostates such as James Lovelock.
- She has her sacrifices such as the poor and elderly.
- She has her acts of atonement – the Toyota Prius again.
- She has her indulgences in carbon offsets.
- She has her tithes such as carbon taxes and solar subsidies.
- She has her TV preachers.
- She has her apologists.
- She has her celebrity worshippers.
- She has her political backers.
- She has her own political parties.
- She has her fingers in big business.
All in all she is a thoroughly modern sky fairy. Climate worship may lack the theological sophistication and moral dimension of our Judeo-Christian traditions, but Climate is a primitive god, her followers raw and unsophisticated in the ways of thinking – especially thinking more than once.
Rational folk should tread carefully, for she is a vengeful
god and the ways of reason are not her ways. Green in tooth and claw, we see her
power in the swivel-eyed gaze of true believers.
That's a bit harsh, to assume that all atheists are green sky faerie worshippers.
ReplyDeleteI'm an atheist (or agnostic or unbeliever or whatever they want to call me, I couldn't care less) and I don't believe much in all this catastrophic climate change etc either (so I suppose they would label me a 'climate sceptic' or 'climate denier' or whatever they want to call me, I couldn't care less').
Mark - not all atheists, but many atheists and particularly climate believers make too much of their supposed rationalism.
ReplyDeleteWhat's with this sexist attitude, maybe it's a he?
ReplyDeleteWoodsy - I left it a little ambivalent by calling her a god rather than a goddess.
ReplyDeleteW42, the Christian-Jewish-Muslim god is normally assumed to be male but Gaia-Earth Mother-Green Skye Faerie is usually assumed to be female.
ReplyDeleteI know Mark - but we have mandatory gender equality nowadays.
ReplyDeleteHowever, there may be a touch of jealousy behind the jibe because many atheists have a sky fairy of their own. They call her climate
ReplyDelete[Chuckles quietly to himself]
James - I chuckled when I posted it!
ReplyDelete