Earth in the Balance: Part Three

July 12, 2000

Al Gore published his book Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit back in 1992. And while a book published eight years ago may be old news, the fact that it was reissued this year in the same format with a new foreword in time for the 30th anniversary of Earth Day demonstrates its relevance. In a recent Time magazine article, Mr. Goes says "There’s not a statement in that book that I don’t endorse. Not one." So I think it is fair to examine what he wrote.

Sometimes it’s hard to believe that this book is written by someone who claims to be a Christian. In an ecumenical spirit, Mr. Gore quotes freely from other religions and New Age writers. He quotes from an ancient Hindu dictum: "The earth is our mother, and we are all her children." He quotes from the gurus of Sikhism who claim that the "Earth teaches us patience, love; Air teaches us mobility, liberty; Fire teaches us warmth, courage; Sky teaches us equality, broad-mindedness; Water teaches us purity, cleanliness.” He quotes from Baha’i that teaches that, “Man is organic with the world. His inner life molds the environment and is itself deeply affected by it." And he quotes from James Lovelock, the originator of the Gaia hypothesis.

Mr. Gore begins his book by saying that the root problem in Western civilization is that "we lost our feeling of connectedness to the rest of nature." Near the end of his book, he offers an answer to this alienation by quoting from a prayer of the Onondaga tribe in upstate New York.

For the last three days, I’ve detailed some of the comments by Al Gore, but I invite you to read the book for yourself and come to your own conclusions.

I’m Kerby Anderson of Probe Ministries, and that’s my opinion.