October, 2001
by Henry Lamb
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"In the beginning, God created..." is the assumption on which western culture has advanced for more than two millennia. This assumption is now obsolete - in the minds of the world's policy makers. Western civilizations have believed that man was created in "God's image," and is the crown jewel in all of God's creation. This belief too, is obsolete in the minds of many people who implement public policy: "Human happiness, and certainly human fecundity, are not as important as a wild and healthy planet. Somewhere along the line -- about a billion years ago -- we quit the contract and became a cancer. We have become a plague upon ourselves and upon the Earth. Until such time as homo sapiens should decide to rejoin nature, some of us can only hope for the right virus to come along." (1) So says David Graber, a research biologist with the National Park Service. The western world has progressed using plants and animals as resources to meet the needs of people. Plants and animals are no longer resources; they are living beings, of equal value to humans, with equal rights: Deep ecologist, Bill Devall, says: "...all organisms and entities in the ecosphere, as parts of the interrelated whole, are equal in intrinsic worth. All things in the biosphere have an equal right to live and blossom and to reach their own individual forms of unfolding and self-realization." (2) The United Nations agrees with this view. In its 1140-page instruction book for implementing the Convention on Biological Diversity, Global Biodiversity Assessment, we are instructed to: "...accept biodiversity as a legal subject, and supply it with adequate rights. This could clarify the principle that biodiversity is not available for uncontrolled human use. It would therefore become necessary to justify any interference with biodiversity, and to provide proof that human interests justify the damage caused to biodiversity." (3) The religions that taught the world that "In the beginning, God created...," are condemned by the United Nations: "Societies dominated by Islam, and especially by Christianity, have gone farthest in setting humans apart from nature and in embracing a value system that has converted the world into a warehouse of commodities for human enjoyment. In the process, not only has nature lost its sacred qualities; conversion to Christianity has meant an abandonment of an affinity with the natural world for many forest dwellers, peasants, fishers all over the world. These people followed their own religious traditions which included setting apart between 10 and 30 percent of the landscape as sacred groves and ponds. Most of these people were drawn into the larger market economy and converted to Christianity by the late 1950s. On so converting to a religious belief system that rejects assignment of sacred qualities to elements of nature, they began to cut down the sacred groves to bring the land under cultivation...." (4) This new, "enlightened" view of the world has permeated our schools for more than a generation. Our churches, and our governments -- at every level -- are filled with people who subscribe to this new world view. How, exactly, this paradigm shift has occurred is worthy of close examination. More importantly, how will this change in world view impact the lives of Americans today and in the future? The Rise of Green Religion The Temple of Understanding, was founded in 1960 by Juliet Hollister and a prestigious group of "Founding Friends" which included: H.H. the XIV Dalai Lama, Jawaharlal Nehru, H.H. Pope John XXIII, Eleanor Roosevelt, Anwar el-Sadat, Dr. Albert Schweitzer, U.N. Secretary-General U Thant, and others. The Temple developed a series of "Spiritual Summit Conferences" that met in Calcutta (1968), Geneva (1970), Harvard and Princeton Universities (1971), Cornell University (1974) and at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City (1984). The Temple also convened a conference on Mount Sinai in October of 1984 to "thrash out an inter-religious consensus," for which Dr. Robert Muller, Assistant U.N. Secretary-General, and author of New Genesis, was asked to draft a "Declaration of the Unity of World Religions." (5) In 1988, the Temple co-founded the "Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders for Human Survival," an unprecedented event sponsored jointly with the U.N. Global Committee of Parliamentarians on Population and Development. The Forum met in Oxford, England in 1988, and again in Moscow in 1990. (6) The Temple was also instrumental in creating the "North American Interfaith Network" which held international conferences in Wichita in 1987, and in Seattle in 1990. The U.N. Global Committee of Parliamentarians on Population and Development was created in 1982 with funding support from the U.N. Population Fund, and a special trust fund established by the U.N. Development Program "to provide information on global survival issues to parliamentarians, spiritual leaders and the media, and to fund network meetings at national, regional and global levels." (7) It is significant that twelve individuals listed on the Board of Directors or Advisors of the Temple of Understanding are also listed as members of the Global Forum Council, including the Very Reverend James Parks Morton who was Dean of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, President of the Temple of Understanding, and co-chair of the Global Forum Council. The featured speaker at the 1988 Forum in Oxford, England was James Lovelock, author of The Ages of Gaia. He told the audience: "On Earth, she [Gaia] is the source of life everlasting and is alive now; she gave birth to humankind and we are a part of her." (8) Lovelock's gaia hypothesis first appeared in 1979 and evolved into Gaia: A New Look At Life On Earth, published by Oxford Press in 1982. The gaia hypothesis contends that the earth itself is a living organism, the source of all life, which has the capacity to regulate, or "heal" itself under "natural" conditions. Lovelock's contention is that the human species has developed the technology to overwhelm gaia's capacity to "heal" itself, and is therefore doomed to destruction unless the human species stops its technological assault. He told the Forum that global warming is the result of the human assault on the earth, and likened it to a fever in humans, but is worried that humans are not allowing gaia to recuperate. He said: "She may be unable to relax because we have been busy removing her skin and using it as farm land, especially the trees and forests of the humid tropics...we are also adding a vast blanket of greenhouse gases to the already feverish patient." (9) The 1990 Forum in Moscow featured Mikhail Gorbachev and then-U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar. It was sponsored by the Supreme Soviet and the International Foundation for the Survival and Development of Humanity, along with the Temple of Understanding and the U.N. Global Committee of Parliamentarians on Population and Development. Gorbachev said "Perestroika has changed our view of ecology; only through international efforts can we avert tragedy." He called for each nation to produce state-of-the-environment reports at the 1992 U.N. Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro. He reiterated an earlier call for a U.N. "green cross," an international emergency task force that could be rushed to the scene of an ecological disaster. (10) Transportation was provided to invited participants free of charge by Aeroflot, and local expenses were paid by the host country. The primary thrust of the Forum was to explore the role the news media could play in promoting global survival, "and especially sustainable development." More than 50 international journalists, 20 international business leaders, scientists, including Carl Sagan, and selected leaders of the arts and cultural community were invited to join 700 spiritual and parliamentary leaders. (11) Carl Sagan led 22 other noted scientists in an appeal for science and religion to "join hands" in a new ecological alliance. More than 100 religious leaders endorsed the appeal. James Parks Morton, co-chair of the Forum, said: "We welcome the scientists' Appeal and are eager to explore as soon as possible, concrete, specific forms of collaboration and action. The Earth itself calls us to new levels of joint commitment." (12) Other religious leaders who signed the Appeal document, included: Elie Wiesel; sheikh Ahmad Kuftaro, the Grand Mufti of Syria and co-chair of the Forum; Joseph Cardinal Bernadin, Archbishop of Chicago; the Reverend Theodore Hesburgh, President Emeritus of Notre Dame University; Oren Lyons, Faithkeeper of the Onondaga Nation; Jain leader Acharya Sushil Kumarji Maharaj; The Reverend Ronald F. Thiemann, Dean of the Harvard Divinity School; and the Reverend Dr. Milton B. Efthimiou, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America. Among the scientists launching the appeal were James Hansen of NASA (whose testimony before the U.S. Senate brought global warming to public attention); Stephen Jay Gould of Harvard University; Mohammed Kassas of the University of Cairo; Motoo Kimura of Japan's National Institute of Genetics; Sir Frederick Warner of Exxes University; and Jerome B. Wiesner of MIT. (13) Five months after the Moscow Forum, a similar conference was held in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the North American Conference on Religion and Ecology (NACRE), described in conference literature as an "Inter-faith organization designed to help the North American religious community enter into the environmental movement in the 1990s." The program featured HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and President of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Russell Train, Chairman of the WWF-US, Carl Sagan, Cornell University, Jessica Mathews, Director of Global Issues of the National Security Council and editorial board member of The Washington Post, Lester Brown, President of Worldwatch Institute; and Brian Swimme, co-author with Thomas Berry of The Universe Story. NACRE President, Donald B. Conroy, said the conference, entitled "Caring for Creation," was "an introduction to congregational habitat," which will provide resource materials for local congregations, "the first steps of an environmental ministry." (14) Paul Gorman, former Vice President of public affairs of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, then-Director of the Temple of Understanding's Joint Appeal, led a coalition of 200 local environmental organizations in 1990 to assist in the election of Mayor David Dinkins. The Coalition invited then-Senator Al Gore to a breakfast symposium with its members before he delivered the Sunday sermon at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. (15) Senators Al Gore, Tim Wirth, John Heinz, and James Jeffords, then arranged an October, 1990 Congressional breakfast in Washington which led to a decision to expand the Joint Appeal to "initiate environmental programs, to measure interest in grass roots religious environmental activity, and to facilitate formal consultations between religious leaders and scientists." (16) In June, 1991, another meeting of the religious leaders, scientists and members of Congress was convened. At the end of the gathering, they concluded: "We believe a consensus now exists, at the highest level of leadership across a significant spectrum of religious traditions, that the cause of environmental integrity and justice must occupy a position of utmost priority for people of faith." (17) Eleven chief executive officers of major national environmental groups sent a letter endorsing the program, "particularly in our efforts to support struggles for environmental justice by poor, minority and indigenous peoples." Among the groups were: the National Audubon Society, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the World Resources Institute. The National Religious Partnership for the Environment (NRPE) announced its $5 million program on October 4, 1993, at the Mount Gilead Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., "to underscore the connection between addressing issues of poverty and the environment." (18) The Partnership is a formal agreement among four of the nation's largest religious organizations:
Although not a full partner, the Union of Concerned Scientists is identified in a special "consultative" relationship, and the NRPE established an office in their headquarters. The NRPE is presently engaged in mailing "education and action kits" to 67,300 religious congregations which ultimately reaches 100-million church-goers. Paul Gorman, Executive Director of the Partnership, says: "...how people of faith engage the environmental crisis will have much to do with the future well-being of the planet, and in all likelihood, with the future of religious life as well." (19) The formal announcement in a black church in the ghettos of Washington, D.C., was followed by a day-long celebration a few days later, featuring a press conference by Vice President Al Gore who said the NRPE "will trigger the beginning of grassroots activity in tens of thousands of religious congregations across the country." Other dignitaries celebrating the event included: James P. Morton, Dean of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, who praised Gore "for the role he played in bringing the partnership to life;" Chancellor Ismar Schorsch of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America; Bishop James Malone of Youngstown, Ohio; Reverend W. Franklyn Richardson, general secretary of the National Baptist Convention; and representatives from the National Association of Evangelicals; World Vision; Sojourners; the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship; the AuSable Institute; and Carl Sagan, who said: "...separately, neither science nor religion could solve the problem of redeeming the environment from the shortsightedness of the last few decades." (20) The essence of green religion Meet Dr. Robert Muller, a member of the Board of Advisors to the Temple of Understanding; a former Assistant Secretary-General to three U.N. Secretary-Generals, Chancellor of the U.N. University, author of the World Core Curriculum, and founder of the Robert Muller Schools. Muller described his religious views to an audience in Costa Rica in 1989: "We thought at the time that the sun was turning around the earth until we learned from Copernicus that it was not true. Now we're learning that perhaps this planet has not been created for humans, but that humans have been created for the planet. We hear now of the Gaia hypothesis, of the interdependence of all inert and living matter, that we are part and parcel of a living planetary organism. We are temporary living manifestations or incarnations of this Earth. We are living Earth. Each of us is a cell, a perceptive nervous unit of the Earth. The living consciousness of the Earth is beginning to operate through us. You as cosmic and earth cells, are part of a vast biological and evolutionary phenomenon which is of first importance at this stage, namely humanity as a whole, the whole human species, has become the brain, the heart, the soul, the expression and the action of the Earth. We have now a world brain which determines what can be dangerous or mortal for the planet: the United Nations and its agencies," (21) Muller's vision is a little more than can be digested in a single bite. But it succinctly expresses the world view that underlies the NRPE agenda as well as the policy agenda of the United Nations. Mikhail Gorbachev is an advocate of Muller's world view. On October 23, 1996, Gorbachev appeared on the popular Charlie Rose PBS television program where he said: "We are part of the Cosmos...Cosmos is my God. Nature is my God...I believe that the 21st century will be the century of the environment, the century when all of us will have to find an answer to how to harmonize relations between man and the rest of Nature...We are part of Nature...." (22) Both Muller's and Gorbachev's world view are an outgrowth of James Lovelock's gaia hypothesis and Thomas Berry's theological interpretations. Thomas Berry is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Temple of Understanding. The Florida Catholic describes Berry as "...perhaps the leading figure in the movement to preserve the environment." (23) Berry believes that the world is being called to a new "post-denominational," even a post-Christian belief system that sees the earth as a living being -- mythologically, as Gaia, Mother Earth -- with mankind as her consciousness. (24) It is difficult to grasp Berry's theology, or more properly described -- cosmolatry. He believes the world is experiencing a new enlightenment of a greater magnitude than Copernicus' discovery that the earth actually revolved around the sun. He believes that the traditional Christian view of an external God, who created man in His image, is as wrong as the pre-Copernican view of the sun revolving around the earth. He is convinced that the earth itself is the life-giver, and that humans have no special place in the universal community of life which is, collectively, the manifestation of the divine. This enlightenment is described by Brian Swimme, in his introduction to Berry's book, The Dream of the Earth, by comparing Berry's vision of cosmolatry to the moment in time when physical vision was experienced for the first time in evolutionary history. Berry himself says: "It has taken the entire course of some fourteen billion years for the universe, the earth, and all its living creatures to attain this mode of presence to itself through our empirical modes of knowing. One of the finest moments in our new sensitivity to the natural world is our discovery of the earth as a living organism...awareness that the entire planet is a single organic reality that needs to be addressed in its spirit and person qualities as well as in its physical aspects." (25) Berry is also convinced that: "This reenchantment with the earth as a living reality is the condition for our rescue of the earth from the impending destruction that we are imposing upon it. To carry this out effectively, we must now, in a sense, reinvent the human as species within the community of life species. Our sense of reality and of value must consciously shift from an anthropocentric to a biocentric norm of reference."(26) This conscious shift from an "anthropocentric" world view, to a "biocentric" world view is perhaps the most significant paradigm shift since monotheism overwhelmed pantheism four thousand years ago. And the shift is well under way. Thomas Berry had a profound influence upon the Very Reverend James Parks Morton, President of the Temple of Understanding, Dean of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, co-chair of the Global Forum for Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders, and a member of the Board of Directors of the NRPE. "Morton shares Berry's belief that an ecological interpretation of the cosmos requires a corresponding re-interpretation of the story of creation. `The new scientific evidence about the origins of life made me realize that we could no longer deal with the human story as something apart from the life story, or the earth story, or the universe story,' says Morton." (27) From his Cathedral of St. John the Divine, at 1047 Amsterdam Avenue in New York City, the seat of a bishop in the Anglican Church, one of the largest religious denominations in the world, James Parks Morton has translated Berry's cosmolotry into specific programs, rituals, and institutions. The NRPE is but one. The Cathedral of St. John the Divine is also home to the Gaia Institute, "whose mission is to explore the practical implications of James Lovelock's Gaia Hypothesis," directed by Paul and Julie Mankiewicz. (28) It is the home of the Lindesfarne Fellowship, a membership organization of influential world leaders who subscribe to Berry's cosmolotry. In Europe, paganism went underground, emerging periodically in the form of secret societies and eclectic writings. Despite persecution by the established church and proper society, secret pagan societies survived into the 20th century. One of the more influential of those societies was the Theosophical Society, created in 1875 by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and Colonel Henry Steel Olcott. (29) Blavatsky's two books, The Secret Doctrine, and Iris Unveiled, articulate the pagan world view. A glimpse of Blavatsky's view is revealed in Iris Unveiled: "Interference by man in this civilization can disrupt the life forces of nature and the occult. Only in countries where there is no civilization can the power of nature be found -- the world's soul." (30) After Blavatsky's death, Annie Besant and Alice Bailey assumed leadership of the society. Besant headed the more radical European branch, and Bailey led the movement in America until she established the Lucifer Publishing Company in the early 1900s. One of the earliest books published by Lucifer, was The Consciousness of the Atom, by Alice Bailey. It was a series of lectures delivered in New York City during the winter of 1921-1922. In the book's Foreword, Bailey says: "The purpose of this series was to present to their auditors the testimony of science as to the relation of matter and of consciousness; to enable the hearers to observe the identical manifestation of these relations and of certain basic laws in successively higher states of being, and thus to bring to them a realization of the universality of the evolutionary process and its actuality; and to deal somewhat with the nature of the expanded states of consciousness and the enlarged life toward which all mankind is traveling."(31) The name "Lucifer Publishing Company" was not well received in the early 1900s, so the name was changed to Lucis Publishing Company, but Bailey continued her prolific writing. It is essential to understand Bailey's world view in order to fully appreciate her influence on the individuals who organized and are advancing the NRPE, and the agenda moving toward global governance. Here follows a series of excerpts from Bailey's writings: "...the problem with which the Hierarchy is now concerned is...to awaken all the nations...to the dramatic import of the present time...and thus to engineer a climax wherein the correct world lesson may be learnt; whereby the world may be purified by the elimination of the undesirable elements which hinder the new era and the upspringing of a more spiritual civilization; and whereby the forces of hate, of cruelty, of materialism and of darkness may be driven back (wherever found) before the sweeping onslaught of the Forces of Light...just as the Aquarian Age is coming into manifestation...bringing in its wake universal awareness and the new modes of expressing world synthesis, human interests, and the world religion...." (Alice Bailey, Esoteric Astrology, pp. 373-374.) "...it is as one humanity, chastened and disciplined but illumined and fused, that we must emerge into the future. Those who do not grasp this important fact, whether they are what is called belligerents or neutrals, will suffer deeply as a result of their non-participation in the fate of the whole.... The Hierarchy is not neutral, it is one with the right element in every nation and set against all separative, isolationists and materialistic attitudes...." (Alice Bailey, The Destiny of the Nations,, 1939, p. 65.) "Another fear which induces mankind to regard death as a calamity, is one which theological religion has inculcated, particularly the Protestant fundamentalists and the Roman Catholic Church, the fear of hell, the imposition of penalties, usually out of all proportion to the efforts of a lifetime, and the terrors imposed by an angry God. To these, man is told he will have to submit, and from them there is no escape, except through the vicarious atonement. There is, as you well know, no angry God, no hell, and no vicarious atonement...and the only hell is the earth itself, where we learn to work out our own salvation.... This teaching about hell is a remainder of the sadistic turn which was given to thinking of the Christian Church in the Middle Ages and to the erroneous teaching to be found in the Old Testament about Jehovah, the tribal God of the Jews! Jehovah is not God.... As the erroneous ideas die out, the concept of hell will fade from man's recollection and its place will be taken by an understanding of the law which makes each man work out his own salvation...which leads him to right the wrongs which he may have perpetuated in his lives on Earth, and which enables him eventually to clean his own slate." (Alice Bailey, Esoteric Healing, p. 393.)(32) Robert Muller is a devotee of Alice Bailey. The preface of the Robert Muller School World Core Curriculum Manual, November, 1986, says: "The underlying philosophy upon which the Robert Muller School is based will be found in the teachings set forth in the books of Alice A. Bailey, by the Tibetan teacher, Djwhal Khul (published by Lucis Publishing Company, 113 University Place, 11th floor, New York, NY)." (33) (The Tibetan teacher, Djwhal Khul, is said by Bailey to be an "ascended master" who speaks through her while she is in a trance). The school is fully certified by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a "participating institution in the UNESCO Associated Schools Project in Education for International Co-operation and Peace." Muller's words take on a new relevance in light of his devotion to Bailey. Muller spoke at the University of Denver on March 30, 1995. He told his audience: "...now we have a spiritual dimension entering the United Nations. I have seen how spirituality can help the poor. We are becoming a new species on this planet. The United Nations is the biological metaorganism of the human species. We have now the birth of a global nervous system. We are beginning to have a global heart, be it only our love for nature, to preserve this earth -- this planet of ours -- and we will also see the birth of a global soul. Whoever will understand that we are a part of the universe and of evolution -- that we are cells of a total humanity. We should replace the word politics by planetics. We need the planetary management, planetary caretakers. We need global sciences. We need a science of a global psychology, a global sociology, a global anthropology." (34) Maurice Strong has been extremely successful in getting this "green religion" translated into public policy. Strong is a Socialist. He was born into a family who worked to get out the vote for Prime Minister Mackenzie King, who in 1943, was promoting the National Council for Soviet-Canadian Friendship. Strong's cousin, Anna Louise Strong, was a Marxist, and a member of the Comintern, who spent two years with Mao and Chou En-lai. Her burial in China in 1970 was organized personally by Chou En-lai. Maurice is well received in China, partly because of his cousin's connections. (35) He ran away from home at 14. His father retrieved him from Vancouver. But in 1945, after completing the 11th grade, Strong was off again to become an apprentice fur trader in Hudson Bay. Strong's business success was remarkable. At 19, he was an investment analyst. At 25, he was Vice President of Dome Petroleum. At 31, he became the President of Power Corporation of Canada. He headed both Petro Canada and Hydro Canada, and made a few deals on the side as well, one of which was the acquisition in 1978 of the Colorado Land & Cattle Company which owned 200,000 acres of San Luis Valley in Colorado -- from Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi.3 (36) Strong's success in business was exceeded only by his success in government. From his post as founding director of the Canadian International Development Assistance Program (CIDA), he was elevated by Prime Minister Lester Pearson to represent Canada's interests in international affairs. Strong's first exposure to the U.N. came in 1947 when, at 18, he went to New York to take a job as assistant pass officer in the Identification Unit of the Security Section. He lived with Noah Monod, then treasurer of the U.N. Here, he first met David Rockefeller and learned that the U.N.'s funds were handled by Rockefeller's Chase Bank. He also met the other Rockefeller brothers and other influential people as well. Strong was the Secretary-General of the first Earth Summit in 1972. He was the first Director of the United Nations Environment Programme. He was the Secretary-General of Earth Summit II in Rio in 1992. He is the founder of the Earth Council, Chair of the Business Council for Sustainable Development, co-chair of the World Economic Forum, a member of the U.N.'s Brundtland Commission on Environment and Development, a member of the U.N.-funded Commission on Global Governance, and a member of the Lindesfarne Fellowship, housed at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, where he is a frequent speaker. (37) Among Strong's world-wide holdings is a 63,000 acre Colorado ranch called the Baca Grande. It is a mecca for mystics. The ranch is home to a group called Disciples of the XVI Gyalwa Karmapa, a strain of Tibetan Buddhism. Shirley MacLaine planned to build her New Age Center at Baca, but locals resisted the idea of a resort. A group of Carmelites built the Spiritual Life Institute, a co-ed monastery for silent contemplation. The Disciples of Babaji, an Indian Guru, celebrate Hindu rituals in a $175,000 solar-powered, gold-domed, adobe temple which features an alabaster statue of Murti, the Divine Mother, built by the Lindesfarne Fellowship. There is a temple for Sufis, and another for Taoists. Still another group was blocked by county officials who quickly enacted a building height restriction when it was learned that the group intended to build a 46-story pink granite pyramid in compliance with instructions received from an intergalactic leader named Commander Kuthumi who was channeling from the planet Arturus. Strong and wife Hanne see the Baca Grande as the "Vatican City" of the new world order. (38) Maurice Strong clearly qualifies as a proponent of the new-age green religion and he is an important catalyst through which this religion is translated into public policy. His work through the United Nations system, as well as through the NGO (non-government organization) support groups, has been extremely effective. He and Mikhail Gorbachev have been designated to maneuver the "Earth Charter" to final adoption, if possible, at or before, the Rio+10 Conference in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2002. Merging green religion and green policy The Earth Charter (39) says "the Earth, our home, is alive..." and that "the Earth has provided the conditions essential to life's evolution...." There is no "In the beginning, God created..." at the U.N. The Charter is a policy document, designed to establish the basic principles upon which public policy will be constructed. In many instances, public policy has been established before the policy document has been adopted, but the plan is to have all the nations of the world adopt this Charter as the basis for domestic and international law. The Charter declares that current patterns of production and consumption are destroying the earth. It calls for fundamental changes in our "values, institutions, and ways of living." It declares that all people are a single "global family," that must be organized on the basis of respect for the environment, which must be managed through a "global partnership" under the direction of the United Nations. The first principle set forth in the Charter says " Recognize that all beings are interdependent and every form of life has value regardless of its worth to human beings." This is a more politically-correct statement of Bill Devall's idea that "all organisms and entities in the ecosphere ... are equal in intrinsic worth." The Charter concludes: "In order to build a sustainable global community, the nations of the world must renew their commitment to the United Nations, fulfill their obligations under existing international agreements, and support the implementation of Earth Charter principles with an international legally binding instrument on environment and development." This new "legally binding instrument" has already been drafted, but not yet presented to the world. It was prepared by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), in cooperation with the International Council of Environmental Law, with assistance from the United Nations Environment Programme. The draft treaty, titled "International Covenant on Environment and Development," contains 72 Articles, and was prepared between 1989 and 1995.(40) It has been awaiting presentation to the world until the politically correct moment. Most of the environmental policy implemented in the United States over the last few decades, originated with the IUCN. This is a unique non-government organization (NGO), located in Gland, Switzerland, near the former League of Nations headquarters, which is now the European headquarters of the United Nations, on the shore of Lake Geneva. Membership in the IUCN is limited to government agencies (113), and selected NGOs (753). Six U.S. federal agencies are members of the IUCN, which pay combined membership dues in excess of $300,000 per year. Additionally, the U.S. State Department has contributed well over $1 million per year since at least 1994. Virtually all of the major environmental organizations are members of the IUCN. The membership is divided into five "Commissions" that work in various environmental areas. Policy proposals are developed through these commissions, and then adopted by an appropriate agency of the United Nations, or by a U.N. sponsored world conference. The 1992 U.N. Conference on Environment and Development, headed by Maurice Strong, was the launching pad for three such documents, all prepared by the IUCN and its respective members: Agenda 21; the U.N. Framework Convention on climate Change; and the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity. It is instructive to see who some of the players were in the 1990s. Many members of the IUCN, who worked on the development of these three documents as members of environmental NGOs, became the very government officials charged with the responsibility of implementing the policies when they were incorporated into treaties.
These are a few of the key people who, along with their respective organizations, promote public policy through the IUCN, lobby delegates to U.N. conferences to adopt the policies, then implement the policies through the government agencies, and mobilize the membership of their organizations to lobby Congress and local officials to implement the policies throughout the country. The "Wildlands Project" is a classic example. No elected official in the United States has ever debated or voted to adopt the Wildlands Project. Nevertheless, it is being implemented through a dozen or more back-door initiatives. The Wildlands Project is a grand scheme, written by Dr. Reed Noss under contract with The Nature Conservancy and the Audubon Society, (41) to convert "at least half" of North America to core wilderness areas, off limits to humans. The core areas are to be connected by "corridors of wilderness," and surrounded by "buffer zones," managed by government for conservation objectives. People are to be moved into "sustainable communities," defined in Agenda 21. The Convention on Biological Diversity was signed by Bill Clinton, but not ratified by the U.S. Senate. This treaty calls for a "system of protected areas." The system of protected areas is defined in the U.N. publication, Global Biodiversity Assessment: "This means that representative areas of all major ecosystems in a region need to be reserved, that blocks should be as large as possible, that buffer zones should be established around core areas, and that corridors should connect these areas. This basic design is central to the recently proposed Wildlands Project in the United States (Noss 1992), a controversial long-term strategy...." (42) In anticipation of swift ratification in a Democratically controlled Senate, the Clinton Administration began transforming administrative agencies to implement the treaty, under the guise of "Reinventing Government." Al Gore personally led the restructuring, and the development of what he called the "Ecosystem Management Policy." Internal working documents obtained from both the Department of Interior, and the Environmental Protection Agency, describe the transformation. The EPA document says: "This effort would both help the United States to fulfill its existing international obligations (e.g., Convention on Biological Diversity, Agenda 21), [and] to suggest future directions in international policymaking...."(43) It didn't matter to the Clinton administration that the Senate refused to ratify this treaty. The Ecosystem Management Policy was implemented anyway. Among the broad changes that the policy required, is this: "EPA must make ecosystem protection a primary goal of the Agency, on a par with human health..." (page 11). The Department of Interior document requires this: "All ecosystem management activities should consider human beings as a biological resource;" (44) Consider the similarity of this policy with the language of green religion: "...all organisms and entities in the ecosphere, as parts of the interrelated whole, are equal in intrinsic worth." No elected officials voted to adopt this policy. Nor did any elected officials vote to set aside the millions of acres as wilderness, which effectively complied with the requirements of the unratified Convention on Biological Diversity, when the President Clinton designated a rash of " National Monuments" administratively. The administrative decree to set aside more than 60 million acres as "Roadless" areas, in the last days of the Clinton administration, was a further effort to implement as much of the unratified treaty as possible. This rush to implement U.N. policy designed to conform with the tenets of green religion, is not the work of Democrats, nor of the administration alone. Congress is doing its share as well. The much celebrated CARA - Conservation and Reinvestment Act (HR701), sponsored by Representative Don Young (R-AK), and at least 317 other Congressmen, serves to implement very specific instructions set forth in the Global Biodiversity Assessment, the U.N. instruction book for implementing the Convention on Biological Diversity. Section 13.6.3 (p. 1039f) prescribes precisely what this bill would accomplish. This section, titled "National Legislation," calls for the government purchase of lands needed to complete large wilderness blocks, or buffer zones around core areas. CARA creates a $3-billion slush fund, available to state and local governments and NGOs, as well as to federal agencies, expressly for the acquisition of private property. Not one of the 317 co-sponsors of this bill will admit that the bill has anything at all to do with the U.N. Is it just a coincidence that the bill does exactly what the U.N. requires - despite the fact that the treaty was not ratified? In fairness, most of the members of Congress have never read the Convention on Biological Diversity (18 pages), and certainly have not read the Global Biodiversity Assessment (1140 pages). The propaganda of the green extremists, through the schools, through the churches, and the media, has been so effective that many members of Congress actually believe that the world is going to hell in a hand basket, and really think they are doing a good thing by taking private property away from individuals and off the tax rolls, to "preserve" for future generations. What the future holds The key to what the future holds is suggested in this statement from the Global Biodiversity Assessment: "...accept biodiversity as a legal subject, and supply it with adequate rights. This could clarify the principle that biodiversity is not available for uncontrolled human use" (emphasis added). The United Nations fully intends to control human use of all natural resources, and has made incredible strides toward this goal through treaties, agreements, and programs already in place. Immediately after the 1992 U.N. Conference on Environment and Development, Maurice Strong, who organized and chaired the conference, joined the 28-member Commission on Global Governance (CGG). This so-called "independent" commission was launched by Willy Brandt at a 1991 meeting of the International Socialist Party in Stockholm. The idea was taken to then-Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who endorsed the commission, and arranged funding. Shridath Ramphal, who stepped down as President of the IUCN (to be replaced by Jay Hair, President of the National Wildlife Foundation), was named co-chair, along with Ingvar Carlsson, Prime Minister of Sweden. The CGG produced its final 410-page report in December, 1995, titled Our Global Neighborhood. This report is a detailed plan for the implementation of global governance. Among its many recommendations, is one that proposes the conversion of the U.N. Trusteeship Council to assume "trusteeship" of the "global commons." The report says: "The global commons include the atmosphere, outer space, the oceans beyond national jurisdiction, and the related environment and life-support systems that contribute to the support of human life." (45) The CGG further proposes that this Council consist of 23 selected representatives from NGOs, and delegates from member nations. All resource related agencies and treaty bodies would be consolidated under the authority of this council. Two additional new U.N. bodies are also proposed, to assist in "controlling human use" of biodiversity: a "Peoples Assembly," and a "Petitions Council." The Peoples Assembly "...should start by convening an annual Forum of Civil Society. This should consist of representatives of organizations accredited to the General Assembly as Civil Society Organizations...." (46) This NGO Forum convened for the first time prior to the U.N. Millennium Assembly and Summit in September, 2000. The NGO Forum and the U.N. are currently working on plans and procedures to make this a permanent addition to the U.N. - precisely as recommended by the CGG. The other new U.N. body proposed is a "Petitions Council," consisting of five to seven selected individuals from civil society. "There is a clear need to enlarge the capacity of civil society to secure U.N. action," says the report. The function of this new entity would be to screen petitions submitted by NGOs calling for U.N. enforcement against individuals, business, municipalities, or states that the reporting NGO thinks is out of compliance with some U.N. treaty, or international law. This new "Right of Petition" would not be limited to environmental matters.(47) This recommendation should make blood boil in every American who has ever heard of Hitler's SS, or the KGB in Soviet Russia. This idea of organizing neighbors to spy and report on neighbors is repulsive in a free society. Nevertheless, the EPA has done this, by supplying grants to the Illinois Swamp Watch Committee of the Sierra Club, whose function in the early 1990s, was to have volunteers report the presence of any bulldozer at work, to the Fish and Wildlife Service, who would then visit the work location to assure that a wetland was not being disturbed. We are seeing the same idea at work in schools that ask students to report on activities at home so the child welfare agencies may be alerted. The global mechanism to support this new "Petitions Council" is being put into place now. The U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service (formerly the Soil Conservation Service), is organizing "Watershed Councils" consisting of "stakeholders," throughout the country. Every Bioregion is defined by watersheds within the Bioregion. Ultimately, there is to be a "Bioregion Council" to which all Watershed and Stakeholder Councils report and coordinate. This is the mechanism through which individual councils and NGOs may submit a petition that reaches the U.N. Petitions Council, whose function is to assign the complaint to the appropriate U.N. agency for investigation and enforcement. In his book, Earth in the Balance, Al Gore said "...we must make the rescue of the environment the central organizing principle for civilization." (48) The Commission on Global Governance has recommended the mechanism, and the governments of the world, including the United States, are reorganizing society to comply. This organizational structure completely by-passes elected officials at the local, state, and even the national level. It trashes the concept of a government empowered by the consent of the governed. It places in the hands of non-elected, environmentally-enlightened, U.N.-approved individuals, the power to make public policy, and to invoke the enforcement power of the United Nations to control human use of natural resources, and to control any other facet of human life the U.N. may choose to control. The U.N. aims to control far more than the use of natural resources. Until now, the function of the United Nations has been to provide a forum where sovereign nations can meet to discuss differences and develop cooperative solutions to common problems. The role of the U.N. is changing. The Commission on Global Governance has called on the U.N. to adopt "Security of the People as a goal as important as the security of states." Security of the people "includes safety from chronic threats such as hunger, disease, and repression, as well as protection from sudden and harmful disruptions in the patterns of daily life." Security of the people also includes safety from "...threats to the earth's life-support systems, extreme economic deprivation, the proliferation of conventional small arms, the terrorizing of civilian populations by domestic factions and gross violations of human rights." (49) Historically, the United Nations could not take any action inside the borders of a sovereign nation without a request from that nation. No more. In their speeches to the U.N. Millennium Assembly, both President Clinton, and Kofi Annan, made statements to the effect that no longer can national sovereignty be used as an excuse to prevent effective action by the community of nations. (50) The Commission on Global Governance suggests that the time has come when the concept of national sovereignty must evolve into the concept of "sovereign equality," enforced by the United Nations, of course. This is nothing more than a new name for the old idea "from each according to his ability; to each according to his need" - as determined by a central governing authority. The minutely detailed report of the Commission on Global Governance is a step by step road map to achieve global governance. Virtually all of the Commission's recommendations were incorporated - although in rather vague language - into the Millennium Declaration (51) adopted by the heads of state from more than 150 nations. This gives the U.N. tacit approval to advance the recommendations of the Commission on Global Governance administratively as much as possible. It gives U.N. watchers no comfort that Maurice Strong was named Executive Coordinator of U.N. Reform, shortly after the Commission on Global Governance issued its final report. Maurice Strong is in the position to implement the very recommendations he and his Commission authored. Many of the recommendations are in various stages of implementation. The CGG recommended the creation of an International Criminal Court. This was accomplished in 1998, at a conference in Rome. It is expected to enter into force before the Rio+10 Summit next year. The NGO Forum was organized last year, and is continuing its organization to become the permanent "Peoples Assembly," recommended by the CGG. Three recommendations are essential to achieving global governance, which have not yet been realized:
U.S. veto power, and the possibility of losing more than one-fourth of its funding, is the primary reason the U.N. has not become the world government it has so long wanted to be. The idea of surrendering U.S. veto power is unthinkable to many Americans. Yet it has been the subject of discussions at the U.S. State Department throughout the Clinton years. The CGG recognizes the political difficulty of amending the U.N. Charter to remove the veto power. They suggest that an amendment may not be necessary in the short run, if the five permanent members simply agreed not to use the veto. They also noted that between 1990 and 1995, the veto had been used only one time, by Russia, on a relatively minor issue, suggesting that the permanent members are already moving toward voluntary non-use of the veto. An administration sympathetic to the idea of global governance could easily enter into such an agreement without consulting Congress or the American people. In time, the veto function would be seen as unimportant, and an amendment might have a better chance of ratification. The standing army under U.N. command is a partial reality. Presidential Directive 25, issued by President Clinton, is reported to assure the United Nations that the U.S. will provide its share of troops. The report is classified, and only staff summaries have been made available to the public. Canada, and at least 12 other nations have committed to providing troops 6,000-strong. This gives the United Nations a good start, with combined forces totaling nearly 100,000. There is still considerable uncertainty in exactly when, and how, these troops may be deployed. They are available, but not yet completely under the day-to-day command of the Secretary General. The final requirement, independent funding, is nearing reality. The Tobin Tax - a tax on foreign currency exchange - was proposed in the late 1970s, but was not seriously considered until the report of the CGG. Since then, the idea has been promoted by virtually all the U.N. agencies and NGO members of civil society. Several nations, including Canada, have officially approved the concept. A Resolution now pending in the U.S. Congress (HConRes301) also calls for approval of this tax. A High Level Panel on Finance and Development was created by the U.N. last year to bring official recommendations on achieving independent funding. A draft of their recommendations was released in August, 2001, for review, before presentation to the world at a global conference to be held in Mexico in March of 2002. The Panel's recommendations call for not only the Tobin Tax, but also for a global tax on the use of fossil fuel. It calls for the creation of a "Global Taxing Authority," to provide for the exchange of tax information among nations - under the auspices of the U.N. - and for the authority to "eliminate tax competition," which is another way to say "equalize the tax burden among nations." Currently, socialist nations tax at rates as high as 70 to 80 percent, while the U.S. is substantially lower. The U.N. sees this as unfair, and is proposing an authority to force equalization. The report also suggests a global income tax. (52) To coordinate this new power, the recommendations also call for the creation of a new Economic Security Council, where there is no veto power, nor any permanent members. All economic and development activity would be consolidated under the authority of this new entity. The Tobin Tax alone, applied at the suggested rate of five basis points (.05), would yield an estimated $1.5 trillion per year, approximately 100 times more than the current total combined budgets of the United Nations. Once taxing authority is gained, there is no way to control the rate, or measures that may be employed to collect the tax. These three remaining recommendations, all of which are in the final stages of implementation, combined with the International Criminal Court, which will be functional within a year, will make the United Nations the world government that has been the dream of many for more than a century. Few Americans have any idea just how close world government actually is. Conclusion We have seen how what once was called "paganism" has been renamed and assigned a new respectability as the gaia hypothesis. We have seen how the hated idea of world government has been renamed and assigned a new respectability as global governance. We are seeing the concept of national sovereignty eroding into the concept of sovereign equality. Most Americans have no idea this is happening. Many don't want to know. For the most part, those who know are the leaders of the various NGOs who are actively promoting these policies. The people of the United States are the only power on earth strong enough to prevent global governance from taking control of the entire planet. This would require swift, bold action on the part of either the administration, or the Congress - preferably both. All U.S. funds to every United Nations agency should be immediately suspended. This would certainly get the attention of the U.N., and the rest of the world. The United States is justified in taking this action, based on the U.N.'s published, and adopted plans which point the U.N. in directions not approved in the 1945 Charter. Before any funds are restored to any U.N. agency or organizations, Congress should conduct an investigation and public hearings to determine the appropriateness of U.S. participation, and hear testimony from individual citizens, rather than from bureaucrats whose income is, one way or another, tied to U.N. operations. The criteria for deciding the appropriateness of U.S. participation in any U.N. agency or organization should begin with the U.S. Constitution, and the principles of freedom there enshrined. Any U.N. agency or organization whose program infringes those principles of freedom should not receive funds paid by U.S. tax payers, nor should the United States participate in their programs. This doesn't seem to be a difficult concept: if the U.N. wants to govern the world, the U.S. wants no part of it. Sadly, this view appears to be in the minority. Efforts to limit the U.N., or to withdraw from the U.N., have rarely gained even 100 votes in Congress. The advocates of global governance have done their work well, convincing a generation that the environment is being degraded and that only the U.N. can save it through their global policies. The problem in Congress is that there are too many people who believe this green-religion propaganda, and too few who believe that "In the beginning, God created...." Endnotes 1. David A. Graber (research biologist with the National Park Service), "Mother Nature as a Hothouse Flower," Los Angeles Times Book Reviews, Sunday, October 22, 1989, p. 9. 2. Bill Devall and George Sessions, Deep Ecology: Living as if nature mattered, (Peregrine Smith Books, Salt Lake City, 1985, p. 67. 3. Global Biodiversity Assessment, (Cambridge University Press, for the United Nations Environment Program, 1995), p. 787. 4. Ibid., p. 839. 5. Michael J. McManus, "Ethics & Religion," Courier Gazette, Rockland, Maine, April 26, 1984. 6. Private communication with Eileen Laurence, Assistant to the Executive Director of the Temple of Understanding, June 1, 1992, with photocopies of brochure and newsletter (on file). 7. Update, published by the Global Committee of Parliamentarians on Population and Development, 345 East 45th St, 12th floor, New York, NY 10017, (212) 953-7947, 1988. 8. Shared Vision, Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders on Human Survival, Volume 3, Number 1, 1989, p. 3. (Note: the address on the publication is 345 East 45th Street, 12th floor, New York, NY 10017, the same address as the U.N. Global Committee of Parliamentarians on Population and Development.) 9. Ibid. 10. Sabbath Newsletter, Volume 1, Number 2, United Nations Environment Program, Winter, 1990, p. 1. 11. Ibid. 12. Shared Vision, Volume 4, 1990, p. 4. 13. Ibid. 14. Program, The Inter-continental conference on "Caring for Creation," Washington National Cathedral, Washington, D.C., May 16-19, 1990 (on file). 15. Jon Naar, "The Green Cathedral," The Amicus Journal, (Quarterly publication of the Natural Resources Defense Council), Winter, 1993, p. 27. 16. "History and Organizational Background," The National Religious Partnership for the Environment. 17. Ibid. 18. Dorothy Vidulich, "Poor, black church hosts service when program goes public," National Catholic Reporter, Kansas City, MO, Friday, October 15, 1993. 19. The National Religious Partnership for the Environment, (P.O. Box 9105, Cambridge, MA 02238-9105, (617) 547-5552), "Statement of Goals," (undated), p. 3. 20. David Anderson, "Gore, churches join environment forces," Chicago Tribune, October 8, 1993, page 7. 21. Robert Muller, "A Cosmological Vision of the Future," World Goodwill Occasional Paper, October, 1989, World Goodwill, P.O. Box 722, Cooper Station, New York, NY 10276. 22. Mikhail Gorbachev, transcribed from the Charlie Rose television program, PBS, October 23, 1996. 23. Thomas J. Grady, "The integrity of the universe," The Florida Catholic, February 14, 1992. 24. Donna Steichen, UnGodly Rage: The Hidden Face of Catholic Feminism, (Ignatius Press, 1991), p. 237. 25. Thomas Berry, The Dream of the Earth, (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1990), p. 18. 26. Ibid., p. 21. 27. The Amicus Journal, Op Cit., p. 24. 28. Ibid., p. 25. 29. Michael S. Coffman, Saviors of the Earth, (Chicago: Northfield, 1994) p. 221. 30. Ibid., p. 214. 31. Alice A. Bailey, The Consciousness of the Atom, (New York: Lucifer Publishing Co.) Foreword (page unnumbered). (Note: Lucifer Publishing Company, 135 Broadway, New York City, is the address in this 1922 publication. The company was later affiliated with the Lucis Trust.) 32. Willy Peterson, "Independence Day: A Parable for Mother Earth," eco-logic, September/October, 1996, pp 20-21. 33. The Robert Muller School World Core Curriculum Manual (Overview), November, 1986, Preface. (Note: Published by: Gloria Crook, Founding President, The Robert Muller School, 6005 Royaloak Drive, Arlington, TX 76016. 34. Robert Muller, "United Nations at 50: Achievements & Challenges," The Wisconsin Report, Volume XX, Number 32, August 24, 1995, p. 1. (Note: The Wisconsin Report is available at P.O. Box 45, Brookfield, WI 53008. (414) 782-4832.) 35. Elaine Dewar, Cloak of Green (Toronto, Ontario: Lorimar & Co., 1995), p. 254. 36. Marci McDonald, Maclean's, October 10, 1994, p. 51. 37. Elaine Dewar, Op. Cit., pp. 249-283. 38. "Meet Maurice Strong," eco-logic, November/December, 1995, p. 4. 39. http://www.earthcharter.org/draft/charter.htm 40. Personal copy secured from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. 41. Reed F. Noss, "The Wildlands Project," Wild Earth, Special Edition, (Canton, NY, 1992), p. 21. 42. Global Biodiversity Assessment, Op. Cit., p. 993. 43. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency National Performance Review, "Ecosystem Protection," August 6, 1993, p. 9. 44. Special Issue Briefing Papers, Prepared for the BLM Summit, April 30, 1994, Department of Interior Internal Working Document, p. 45. 45. Commission on Global Governance, Our Global Neighborhood, (Oxford University Press, 1995), p. 251. 46. Ibid., p. 258. 47. Ibid., p. 260. 48. Al Gore, Earth in the Balance, (Penguin Group, New York, 1993), p. 269. 49. Our Global Neighborhood, Op. Cit., pp. 79-82, 50. http://www.un.org/millennium/sg/report/state.htm 51. http://sovereignty.freedom.org/p/gov/madec.html 52.
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