It is astonishing that Christians seem quite pleased when a Carl Sagan sounds a spiritual note—as though they now hold a belief in common that unites them, when in fact they are as far apart as heaven and hell. Sagan is an atheist. His use of "sacred" is dishonest. In every sense a pagan, this "high priest of cosmos worship" has said, "If we must worship a power greater than ourselves, does it not make sense to revere the Sun and stars?" Of course it doesn't! Sagan is expressing the neopantheism of academia called ecotheology.
Another of its advocates, Georgetown University professor Victor Ferkiss, says it "starts with the premise that the Universe is God." Like Sagan, he seems convinced that this belief will "prevent the environmental exploitation of the Universe."6 Even if it did, that would not make it true—but who cares about truth anymore? In comparison with the ecological crisis we face, the question of truth seems abstract and impractical.
Moreover, to believe that the universe is God would not prevent environmental exploitation. On the contrary, it would encourage it. If the universe is "God," then each of us is part of "God" and can do no wrong. Thus the very term "exploitation of the Universe" would be meaningless. Sagan and Ferkiss and others who espouse their beliefs are simply restating the old paganism in new terms.
It is astounding that so many evangelicals involved in the environmental movement seemed pleased with talk of "reverencing the cosmos," as though this had something in common with belief in the God of the Bible. They ought to know that Sagan's cosmos worship stands in total opposition to God and is the sworn enemy of the gospel.
