http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/cvlw_env_sdn.html

Fair enough; you raise a valid concern that global warming may affect the poor in the future. But surely poor Africans need mosquito nets, paved roads, and antiviral drugs more urgently than they do reduced carbon emissions, no?

I know you’ve read “Caritas in Veritate,” so you know what Pope Benedict wrote in chapter four, sections 50-53. And to the point: “The way humanity treats the environment influences the way it treats itself, and vice versa.”

I can’t agree with your conclusions about global warming.

For one thing, saving polar bears and cutting carbon emissions have little to do with ensuring that poor Africans have mosquito nets and receive adequate antiviral drugs.

For another, the Vatican’s cri de coeur for “polluting the environment” is a huge umbrella under which global warming occupies a small sliver.

I agree that poverty (or wealth & power stratification) is one of the world’s greatest problems. But if you care about the poor, you need to care about global warming. Just google [global warming poverty] to see how intertwined they are.

Incidentally, the Catholic Church agrees with me–presumably the Pope is an orthodox Catholic.
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/vatican_bishop_points_to_modern_social_sins/
The seven social sins are:
1. “Bioethical” violations such as birth control
2. “Morally dubious” experiments such as stem cell research
3. Drug abuse
4. Polluting the environment
5. Contributing to widening divide between rich and poor
6. Excessive wealth
7. Creating poverty

*http://trueslant.com/conorfriedersdorf/2009/12/23/are-unauthorized-edits-a-useful-approach-to-debate/

Thanks for your detailed reply. As I am headed out to a Christmas party, I can’t respond in full now, but I will attempt to get back to you tonight or tomorrow.

Pantheism is a very simple concept, that there is no arbitrary distinction between creator and creation, they are one and the same. Rather than a god in heaven and a created earth below, heaven and earth and god are one. Contrary to your characterization, pantheism does not hold that “nature” is “god” but rather that all of existence is god, human being included. You, I, the stars in heaven, the ocean and the fish within, and everything else are all God, not separated from Him (St. Augustine was aghast at the idea that something so low and sinful as a human being could be thought of as part of God, which is why he opposed the idea). Baruch Spinoza, the Jewish Dutch philospher is the greatest exponent of Pantheism. You would have done well to have read up on him before posting on Pantheism.

You wrote:”Whether you’re an orthodox Catholic like me, a member of the Old Left, or a garden-variety populist, you can agree that the world’s leaders should spend less time fighting global warming and more time fighting against hunger and disease or securing a family wage for workers.”

Why in heaven’s name would anyone agree with that? I agree that ending hunger and disease and giving working people a living wages are things worth fighting for but so is the world with ice caps. This assertion seems a complete non sequitur to the point of the posting.

I have no idea if Avatar endorses pantheism or not as I have not seen the movie but if one is going to attack pantheism, you had best learn what it actually is. I don’t think that being or not being a pantheist, or a Christian or not a Christan has anything to do with reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases.