The New Religion

Many people, including me, are made uncomfortable by Sarah Palin's evangelical faith. So it was surprising to see Palin attacked this morning in a New York Times editorial for her lack of faith.

"She has questioned whether humans are responsible for climate change," huffs the Times editorialist as part of a litany of her sins.

Questioning is a good thing. Questioning is what scientists do. Questioning is what I hope our leaders will do – of all orthodoxies. It is religions that insist on faith instead of questioning; anthropogenic (man-made) global warming is apparently our new religion – not to be questioned.

Way back when I was in college the accepted dogma pushed by Carl Sagan and other leading scientists was that we were headed for a "nuclear winter" – catastrophic global cooling caused by dust in the atmosphere from nuclear testing and other "civilized" activities. Questioning that theory was as disreputable then as questioning carbon-caused global warming is today.