No Room For Whom?

I go to church. Not always; sometimes not even often, but I go. I really wouldn't call myself religious, I just have a thing for stale bread that's been handled by other people, especially if I can dip it in some really cheap wine and gulp it down in front of an audience. I keep hoping one Sunday I'll take my crappy little piece of pita, and find as I move to dip it that the chalice is filled to the brim with sour cream and onion dip. Body of Christ; blood of salivation...

Admittedly, there are a lot of Sunday mornings when I'd rather stay in bed than go get my weekly infusion of Godliness. Okay, that's pretty much every Sunday morning. Sometimes the bed wins, and sometimes God wins. Actually, I'd rather think that God always wins, it's just that sometimes what God wants most is for me to keep dreaming about being king of Greglandia; where I am worshipped by all the gentle citizens as something of a... well, kind of like a god, but not so much that it would offend you-know-who.

I bring this up by way of explaining my overall view on religious belief, and specifically my attitude toward the beliefs of others; that being that whatever you may believe that makes you happy and causes you to at least try to be good to those around you is cool with me. I have my own beliefs, and I while I have no firm conviction that they are "true," I think they fit what I am able to observe of the world and give me some fleeting sense that I understand the universe and my relationship to it. I like to think I have a pretty good bead on the really big picture, but that doesn't mean I don't have room for other points of view. In fact, it is only by remaining open to other points of view and new information that I have come to my beliefs as they exist today.

What I believe here in 2007 is quite different than how I viewed the universe in 1997, and that evolution has only been possible by reading and listening and remaining open to points of view that often told me, in effect, "you're off your nut." As it turns out, from time to time I have been just that, and only by listening to others have I been able to move toward a more enlightened personal view of the cosmos.

The thing is, not everyone is that open-minded when it comes to their religion. Were I to share some of my more heretical views at church, I have no doubt that those decrying my notions regarding the nature of the soul and whether Jif or Peter Pan makes the better peanut butter would be legion. I understand that. I suspect that most people are fairly closed-minded about their personal view of the world, and few are moreso than those who are willing to conclude that everything they need to know or ought to think about the fabric of reality can be found in a single book. I don't look for debate at church, because I recognize that debate isn't what the other people came there for. People go to church to be uplifted and admonished; and these are both flip sides of a single well-worn coin engraved with the words "In My God I Trust." The world is for questions; church is for answers.

Sadly, I'm finding more and more devout believers demanding that their views not be questioned or challenged out here in the world. "There is no room for debate," is their mantra, and their dogma comes from the First Universal Church of Global Warming. With climate, as with spirituality, where I see questions these people see answers. Where I'm taking notes in pencil, they've scrawled "WE KNOW!!!!!" in ultra-bold Sharpie. I'm all for a lively debate between people of conviction, but what hope is there for such when one side proclaims loudly and with pride, "There is no room for debate." Really? No room at all? Couldn't those of you who know so much make some room for those of us who don't, maybe shepherd us into the warm light of knowing so damn much?

Couldn't we maybe find a little room to debate the value of the data being gathered by weather monitoring stations built in the middle of airports and in front of air conditioning exhausts? Isn't there at least a little room for discussion about whether a temperature monitoring enclosure with a 60 watt light bulb burning inside it might understandably be registering higher temperatures than were measured back before Edison harnessed electricity for light and gave us the single best visual metaphor for the good idea?*

Of course, I'm fairly certain that most of the global warming faithful are blissfully unaware of these facts; but wouldn't engaging in a healthy debate on the issue leave room for them to become informed? How then are we to enlighten those who already deem themselves fully and completely enlightened? Hell, they not only believe they know everything they need to know about the issue (many of them knowing absolutely nothing of substance, when it comes right down to it) but they also label anyone who deigns to ask questions about the issue "flat Earthers."

While the climate warming faithful's mantra of "No room for debate," is intended to convey the certainty with which the question has been answered, what it actually means is "we're not willing to have a debate; our minds are closed." Their conviction is not just similar to that of the devoutly spiritual, it is exactly the same thing. These people have imbued the issue of saving the planet from human-induced climate change with all the fervor and (apologies to the devout) willful ignorance of the most absurd caricature of the Bible-thumping redneck.

Cite scientific reports that suggest warming is not occurring, that warming is natural, that anything they believe is not as they believe, and they respond as if you were telling them there is no God. It's as if these people think the world is inflicted with a terminal case of cancer, yet when you try to show them evidence that maybe, just maybe the test results indicate the planet is going to be okay, they respond with anger and vitriol. "Hey, maybe your mom is going to live..." "NO SHE'S NOT, YOU CRETIN!!!!" (And before you know it they are suggesting that you think their mom is flat...)

Again, I am NOT suggesting that I know all there is to know about global warming; I'm not one of those claiming there is "no room for debate" on the issue. I'm simply suggesting that, based on a considerable amount of reading on my own part, it seems clear to me that there is ample room for spirited debate among those open to learning more about what everyone seems to agree is an important issue. "But wait!" someone is even now saying aloud to himself as he reads this, "what about the ice fields in Antarctica that are getting thinner?" Yes, I've read about those, but I've also read about the other areas of Antarctica where the ice has been getting thicker over the same period. Surely if we're going to draw global conclusions based on what's happening to the amount of ice at the poles, we need to consider all the information about what's happening there, not just the half that suggests we're all doomed.

As with the question of God's existence, there are voices raised with conviction on both sides of this issue; and I'm reasonably sure that these people are all screaming at each other with the best of intentions. So, it doesn't surprise me that very few people are even aware that some of us are quietly, calmly reading and taking in information and searching desperately for others with whom to discuss global warming. If only we could find some room, somewhere, where it would be alright with Leonardo DiCaprio if we debate it.

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* Here's a link to the Surfacestations.org Website, for anyone interested in reading about some of the stations being used to gather temperature data; data which is being used as the basis for global climate modeling which is cited as indicating and predicting a global warming trend.