I'm the first to decry alarmism, but why doesn't the Pope deal with the
problems within his church, rather than play pseudo-science? I therefore
suggest the following open letter to him:

Dear Mr Ratzinger

The name you have adopted by leading the Roman church means, "say well":
perhaps you should adopt this as a way of life instead of knocking gays,
contraception and, now, environmentalists, when you clearly know nothing
about the subject (at least, I will charitably assume you know nothing
about condoms or homosexuality, although you must have come across the
latter in your mission).

Maybe you should concentrate on bringing your church back to its
1st-century ideals in the ways that Saul of Tarsus, aka Paul, proclaimed
in his letters. For example, the dogma of praising the BVM has no
foundation in Christianity and crept in, probably 300 years after Jesus
was executed, as part of the Astarte cult. It should be abolished
because there is no biblical reference to it. It follows from this that
the 19th-century dogma of the Immaculate Conception (not to be confused
with anything to do with the pretended virgin birth of Jesus) cannot
hold water as being so obviously pagan.

Far be it from me, an ignorant non-believer, to tell you how to conduct
your job, as you obviously have more on your plate than you know how to
deal with, restoring your church to true Christianity instead of the
idolatrous, money-grabbing business it has become. I'll shut up,
provided you do the same about atmospheric science. Your intervention is
reminiscent of the same way as your predecessor, Urban VIII, interfered
with Copernicus' astronomical science and imprisoned Galileo as a
scapegoat. It was nearly 200 years later, in 1822, that Pius VII
admitted that your church had made a mistake and allowed that modern
astronomy was factual. In the meantime, your church declared astronomy
as heretical and was a major hindrance to the development of science. If
I may be allowed to call you Joseph, or Joe for short, may I point out
you are committing a heresy and reducing the little credibility that
remains to your church by interfering with what does not concern you?

Yours sincerely,

Brian Ellis

I hope that this does not offend anyone here but I class religious
leaders - of all faiths - in the same light as I do politicians.

Brian

Davy, Gordon wrote:
> I came across a posting with the above title on another email forum. I thought Environet readers might enjoy reading it (the following three paragraphs). It was posted Dec. 12 by Thomas Sieger Derr at  <http://www.firstthings.com/blog/> http://www.firstthings.com/blog/. 
> For some time now many scientists, even and perhaps especially those connected to the climate alarmism movement, have worried about the exaggerations and downright apocalyptic scenarios which have come out of the writings of some of their scientific colleagues like James Hansen or James Lovelock, let alone laymen like Al Gore. Deliberate scare-mongering, done to get the public's attention and action, can backfire and bring discredit on the whole movement.
> Now comes support for these worries from a surprising source, Pope Benedict XVI, in a message prepared for World Peace Day on January 1, but released today, warning us against the climate change prophets of doom. He does not take sides in the scientific debate: "Humanity today is rightly concerned about the ecological balance of tomorrow." But he does believe the case against global warming is over-hyped, that solutions to global warming must be based on firm evidence and not on dubious ideology, and that care for the environment must not mean that the welfare of plants and animals takes priority over human need.
> This message will greatly annoy the global warming crowd, who will point out that the pope is not a scientist (and neither is Al Gore). But at least they won't be able to claim he's in the pay of the oil industry.
> Derr's posting includes a link to a Daily Mail news report by Simon Caldwell of the Pope's message. Here's an excerpt of that report: 
> Pope Benedict XVI has launched a surprise attack on climate change prophets of doom, warning them that any solutions to global warming must be based on firm evidence and not on dubious ideology. The leader of more than a billion Roman Catholics suggested that fears over man-made emissions melting the ice caps and causing a wave of unprecedented disasters were nothing more than scare-mongering. The German-born Pontiff said that while some concerns may be valid it was vital that the international community based its policies on science rather than the dogma of the environmentalist movement... 
> "It is important for assessments in this regard to be carried out prudently, in dialogue with experts and people of wisdom, uninhibited by ideological pressure to draw hasty conclusions, and above all with the aim of reaching agreement on a model of sustainable development capable of ensuring the well-being of all while respecting environmental balances." 
> ...He added that to further the cause of world peace it was sensible for nations to "choose the path of dialogue rather than the path of unilateral decisions" in how to cooperate responsibly on conserving the planet... 
> His remarks reveal that while the Pope acknowledges that problems may be associated with unbridled development and climate change, he believes the case against global warming to be over-hyped. 
> A broad consensus is developing among the world's scientific community over the evils of climate change. But there is also an intransigent body of scientific opinion which continues to insist that industrial emissions are not to blame for the phenomenon. 
> Such scientists point out that fluctuations in the earth's temperature are normal and can often be caused by waves of heat generated by the sun. Other critics of environmentalism have compared the movement to a burgeoning industry in its own right. 
> In the spring, the Vatican hosted a conference on climate change that was welcomed by environmentalists. But senior cardinals close to the Vatican have since expressed doubts about a movement which has been likened by critics to be just as dogmatic in its assumptions as any religion. 
> In October, the Australian Cardinal George Pell, the Archbishop of Sydney, caused an outcry when he noted that the atmospheric temperature of Mars had risen by 0.5 degrees celsius. "The industrial-military complex up on Mars can't be blamed for that," he said in a criticism of Australian scientists who had claimed that carbon emissions would force temperatures on earth to rise by almost five degrees by 2070 unless drastic solutions were enforced. 
>  
> Gordon Davy
>