https://www.theepochtimes.com/opinion/nature-rights-paganism-advancing-in-the-west-5549737'Nature Rights' Paganism Advancing in the West
By Wesley J. Smith
12/20/2023
Note: To read this article at The Epoch Times, you may need to either disable javascript in your browser, OR, use "reader mode" if available.Excerpts:Did you hear the news? Ireland may soon grant human-type rights to nature.
“Rights” to nature? Really? Alas, yes. From the BBC story: “The Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action has recommended the government advance a referendum on protecting biodiversity. The move would see nature bestowed with rights comparable to those of people.”
So, what are “Nature’s” supposed rights? The BBC explains: “Elements of nature, such as trees, mountains and rivers” would be “recognised as entities with rights to exist and flourish, to be restored, regenerated and respected.”
In other words, Ireland may be about to establish iron-clad legal protections for flies, viruses, trees, fish, rivers, mountains, weeds, granite outcrops, etc.—akin to a right to life for all of nature and its various aspects—thereby establishing public policies and public attitudes in which human flourishing would come last.
The Nature [with a capital N] rights movement should be viewed as a form of neo Earth paganism because it personalizes the natural world. For example, the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature’s “Universal Declaration for the Rights of Mother Earth” declares unscientifically that “Mother Earth is a living being,” with “inalienable" rights that "arise from the same source as existence”—a generating cause that it doesn’t identify—without “distinction of any kind, such as may be made between organic and inorganic beings [!], species, origin, use to human beings, or any other status.”
The term “being” is defined very loosely in the Declaration as including “ecosystems, natural communities, species and all other natural entities which exist as part of Mother Earth.” In other words, according to the Nature rights movement, at best, humans are just another animal in the forest of no greater moral status than any other organic life or inorganic features. (It's worth noting at this point that at least six rivers have already been granted rights.) Moreover, humans are in some sense enslaved by Mother Earth as the Declaration requires us to “prevent human activities” from violating nature’s rights.
Ecuador’s Constitution granting rights to nature is similarly paganistic. It references the Incan goddess Pachamama as the possessor of Nature’s rights, stating: “Nature or Pachamama, where life is reproduced and exists, has the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution.”
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