How many times have we read in textbooks and popular historical accounts of how the Roman Catholic Church jailed and even executed people who denied the church’s scientific views? Most if not all of these claims are fiction, but they are used nevertheless.

Lawrence Torcello, assistant professor of philosophy at Rochester Institute of Technology, NY, wants a 21^st-century version of the Inquisition for those who question man-made global warming.

He writes in an essay on a British website The Conversation “that climate scientists who fail to communicate the correct message about ‘global warming’ should face trial for ‘criminal negligence.’”

The website is no fringe site. The Conversation is funded by the following universities in Great Britain:

“Aberdeen, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Cardiff, City, Durham, Glasgow Caledonian, Goldsmiths, Lancaster, Leeds, Liverpool, Nottingham, The Open University, Queen’s University Belfast, Salford, Sheffield, Surrey, UCL and Warwick.”

Torcello’s arguments are flawed on several levels. First, he compares the science associated with global warming to earthquake prediction. He writes:

“I have argued elsewhere that scientists have an ethical obligation to communicate their findings as clearly as possible to the public when such findings are relevant to public policy. Likewise, I believe that scientists have the corollary obligation to correct public misinformation as visibly and unequivocally as possible.”

What Torcello won’t acknowledge is that there is not a consensus of opinion on man-made global warming, or as they now like to say, climate change. Of course, he would dispute this, but facts are facts.

Second, what the global warmists like Torcello don’t want is contrary scientific opinion because money is at stake in research grants and power politics. Anything and everything can be blamed on the climate when greater blame can be attributed to flawed economic policies and the curtailing of liberty.

When the Iron Curtain fell and the Soviet Union went belly up, Communist-thinking people needed a new cause. It became the environment.

The global warming religion has become extreme in its claims. Here’s the latest from the do-nothing, know-nothing, power-hungry, money-grabbing United Nations:

“Climate change will displace hundreds of millions of people by the end of this century, increasing the risk of violent conflict and wiping trillions of dollars off the global economy, a forthcoming UN report will warn.

“The second of three publications by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, due to be made public at the end of this month, is the most comprehensive investigation into the impact of climate change ever undertaken.

“A draft of the final version seen by The Independent says the warming climate will place the world under enormous strain, forcing mass migration, especially in Asia, and increasing the risk of violent conflict.”

Here’s something from the leftist rag Mother Jones, once again showing deep panic that people are growing cold toward global warming theorists, and they need to be shocked to get them to rejoin the cult: “Global Warming Will Cause 180,000 More Rapes by 2099.” Who of us will be around in 2099 to check the accuracy of this prediction? And how will anyone know that global warming is the cause?

What does the UN want, that is, what do the less free nations want? More of our money for a political concoction wrapped in the academic garb of science with all dissenting opinions prohibited from commenting.

President Obama, Vice President Biden, and Secretary of State Kerry are behind this sham report and are ready to give into the global thieves.

Canadian ecologist Patrick Moore, a member of Greenpeace from 1971 to 1986, said the following to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee:

“There is no scientific proof that human emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂) are the dominant cause of the minor warming of the Earth’s atmosphere over the past 100 years. If there were such a proof it would be written down for all to see. No actual proof, as it is understood in science, exists.”

Moore went on to say:

“It is a powerful convergence of interests among a very large number of elites, including: Politicians, who want to make it seem as though they’re saving the world; environmentalists, who want to raise money and get control over very large issues like our entire energy policy; media, for sensationalism; universities and professors for grants. You can’t hardly get a science grant these days without saying it has something to do with climate change. It is a kind of nasty combination of extreme political ideology and a religious cult all rolled into one.”

These people are so desperate that they won’t get any more funding for their scam that some are willing to set up a new Inquisition and burn the scientific heretics at the stake.

Occam’s Razor is in play: Follow the money.

It’s that simple.