Is Environmentalism a Religion?

Religion can be defined as a reverence for and devotion to something greater than the self; it is a system of belief that supersedes all else; and it is a belief in the sacred. Modern environmentalism, influenced by the ideas of Deep Ecology and other New Age or Pagan belief systems, has become for many a religion.

At its simplest form, the environmental religion proposes that the earth is one organism with one energy; a super bio-organism. We (humans, plants, water, animals, etc.) are all connected and are all one. Man happens to have reached the highest level of consciousness and as such has the greatest responsibility to tend to the Earth. This oneness arguably extends beyond the Earth to the universe. 

In this belief system, environmental activists naturally become so zealously involved that they revere environmental concerns above all else. And while they might not believe in a supernatural being, their devotion is no different than the Muslim pilgrim, born-again Christian, or Buddhist monk.

A quick look around society will tell one that the environmentalists are fast at work evangelizing the world with their beliefs. The message is in schools, on TV, in ads, and heavily influencing many levels of government in America and around the world.