"’I don’t think people have noticed that, but it’s got all the sort of terms that religions use. The greens use guilt. You can’t win people round by saying they are guilty for putting CO2 in the air"
Now at the U.N. Earth Summit, even the image of Christ has been made a forcible convert to the eco-faith, as the city of Rio is bathing the iconic statue of Christ the Redeemer (Christo Redentor) in green light."
David Rothbard and Craig Rucker have penned an article for National Review Online describing the strange symbolism occurring at the Rio UN Earth Summit.
They highlight how Jesus is signifying a shift to a ’green religion’, and that perhaps even obligations such as recycling, paying carbon taxes, or living with smart meters could be seen as "religious duties of the faithful".
Is all this ecclesiastical symbolism at an eco summit indicative of a shift towards religious dogma? If so, it encompasses not just modern Christianity, but also ancient beliefs and gods. Some would say the "new age" green religion we are being offered is actually an echo of an old one.
Another aspect of this ’Green Jesus’, is the unavoidable association to Osiris.
Osiris is an Egyptian god, usually identified as the god of the afterlife, the underworld and the dead. He is classically depicted as a green-skinned man with a pharaoh’s beard, partially mummy-wrapped at the legs, wearing a distinctive crown with two large ostrich feathers at either side, and holding a symbolic crook and flail.
Another aspect of the suggested ’green religion’ that dates back to antiquity is The Green Man.
The Green Man would appear to be pagan, perhaps a fertility figure or a nature spirit, similar to the woodwose (the wild man of the woods), and yet he frequently appears, carved in wood or stone, in churches, chapels, abbeys and cathedrals, where examples can be found dating through to the 20th century. The earliest example of a green man disgorging vegetation from his mouth is from St. Abre, in St. Hilaire-le-grand, c 400 AD.
Is there a push to create a new religion from old ideas, marrying devotion to god(s) with adherence to the ideals of an environmental movement?
If so, who does this benefit most of all?
Will these movements actually improve conditions in our environment, or (as too often in religion) will these crusades simply line the pockets of the influential and powerful?
Either way, Jesus in Rio looks a bit queasy at the goings-on.
How Green Was the ’Green Pope’?