What is the end-game of some extremists who believe in the threat of catastrophic, man-made climate change? The end of humanity.

In contrast, the founders of America operated out of a Judeo-Christian framework. The Bible was by far the most widely read and studied book during America’s founding.

The framers declared that it is self-evident that we have been created equal and have been endowed by our Creator with certain key rights — first listed amongst them is the right to life.

But some of today’s climate alarmists want to see a global change to pull the plug on that right — not just for our country, but basically for humankind. And they certainly want to put the kibosh on the Biblical command to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth with humans.

Why do some climate alarmists essentially wish us all dead? Because they think people are bad for the earth. They don’t believe in God. They claim to believe in science. But what is the evidence that people are supposedly bad for the earth?

An Atlantic Article on Those Who Want Human Extinction: ‘Self-Elimination’

The Atlantic recently had an article (January/February 2023 issue) focusing on this idea that some experts today are promoting human extinction, for the sake of the planet.

They write: “From Silicon Valley boardrooms to rural communes to academic philosophy departments, a seemingly inconceivable idea is being seriously discussed: that the end of humanity’s reign on Earth is imminent, and that we should welcome it. … It is a rejection of humanity’s traditional role as Earth’s protagonist, the most important being in creation.” [emphasis added]

They call this view “transhumanism” — that we should get beyond humanity, and we should engage in “drastic forms of self-elimination.”

As noted, this contrasts sharply with the Biblical command that humanity should be fruitful and multiply. Argue the transhumanist “experts” quoted in The Atlantic: “But if being fruitful and multiplying starts to be seen as itself a form of killing, because it deprives future generations and other species of irreplaceable resources, then the flourishing of humanity can no longer be seen as simply good.”

New York Times Reports on Man Who Wants Extinction: ‘Thank You for Not Breeding’

The New York Times features an article on a 75-year old man who promotes a similar message: “Earth Now Has 8 Billion Humans. This Man Wishes There Were None.”

They write: “For the sake of the planet, Les Knight, the founder of the Voluntary Human Extinction movement, has spent decades pushing one message: ‘May we live long and die out.’”

Knight often spreads the message, “Thank you for not breeding.”

They add, “Mr. Knight is among those who believe that overpopulation is a main factor in the climate crisis.” The article notes that “a 2020 poll found that one in four Americans who had not had children cited climate change as a reason.”

Ideas have consequences. What begins as a discussion of hypotheticals in the faculty lounge may eventually become policy somewhere. These are worldviews in conflict.

‘Attacking God in Effigy’

I remember years ago, one Christian speaker made this observation:

• In the 18th century, the Bible was killed. (Higher critics beginning in Germany attacked the Scriptures and postulated that they couldn’t be trusted.)
• In the 19th century, God was killed. (Darwinism supposedly eliminated the need for the “God hypothesis.”)
• In the 20th century, Man was killed. (Nazi Germany’s Holocaust and the Communists’ murder of some 100 million persons are two prominent examples.) And now some of these climate alarmists are arguing that even more human beings should willingly die out … for the sake of the planet.

I reached out to author, Wesley J. Smith, the Chair of the Discovery Institute’s Center for Human Exceptionalism, for a comment on this idea. He told me, “The Human Extinction Movement is a form of nature worship, expressing the belief that the world will be pristine without us. But why will that matter? No one will be around capable of appreciating nature’s wonder.”

I also asked for a reply from E. Calvin Beisner, Ph.D., the president of the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, who is a major critic of the unproven hypothesis of man-made, catastrophic climate change.

Beisner noted, “The proposal is absurdity in the extreme. Even the scenarios for the future in the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s scientific reports, exaggerated as they are, don’t depict human-induced global warming as an existential threat or even a great crisis. Such claims come only from the UN’s and various nations’ political leaders, environmental activists, and the mainstream media.”

And he added, “The hope for human extinction is nothing more than anti-human. Christians, who recognize that people are the image of God, will recognize it as attacking God in effigy.”

Beginning with a dubious premise, the alarmists have reached a dubious conclusion. This relatively new push for no more humans reminds me of the verse in the Bible where God’s wisdom says, “All who hate me love death.”

Jerry Newcombe, D.Min., is the executive director of the Providence Forum, an outreach of D. James Kennedy Ministries, where Jerry also serves as senior producer and an on-air host. He has written or co-written 33 books, including George Washington’s Sacred Fire (with Providence Forum founder Peter Lillback) and What If Jesus Had Never Been Born? (with D. James Kennedy). Learn more at www.jerrynewcombe.com and follow him on Twitter @newcombejerry.