#2981: Cliff Harris

Cliff Harris is an End Times preacher, climate change denialist and general conspiracy theorist. Harris is perhaps most notable for his book Weather and Bible Prophecy, which is signed “Climatologist Cliff Harris”, although it is difficult to find any information on his credentials, education or any research background whatsoever other than him having been involved in something called Harris-Mann Climatology, which seems to be little more than a (now-defunct) website, with fellow fundie endtimes loon Randy Mann (you can find some discussion on some of their work in the comments here). His own website lists him as one of the “top 10 climatologists in the world”, but it is unclear on what that assessment is based given that he has no discernible credentials or scientific publication record.

 

In any case, his book – for which we cannot find any publisher info – putatively explores the link between weather events and biblical prophecies, in particular prophecies connected to the End Times: weather and climate events are ostensibly means God use to draw attention to himself (apparently with varying success), and play some role (we can’t manage to motivate ourselves to delve into details) in the potential emergence of “New Jerusalem”. At least Harris is clear that climate change, as understood by scientific communities, is a “hoax” being used to grow the size of government. And growing the size of government is, of course, deeply unChristian and a mark of the end times: In a discussion with Rick Wiles, for instance, Harris claimed that the mass support for Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign in 2015 is clear evidence that the second coming of Jesus is imminent.

 

In parallel with his scrapbook projects on climate, Harris has also been pushing geoengineering and chemtrail conspiracy theories, claiming for instance that chemtrails are a significant cause of allergies, chronic illnesses and ‘flu-like symptoms’ across America. His expertise in medicine roughly parallels his expertise on climate.

 

Diagnosis: Completely bonkers, but it seems that his feeble analyses have had some impact in denialist communities – and possibly even among people with actual power (there are some references to them even in government documents). And if the lunatic rants of Cliff Harris don’t fail to find traction, it's hard to hold on to the hope that there are any boundaries whatsoever.