Despite everything, despite the dead ugliness they bring to the living surface of the world, we cannot act as if offshore drilling platforms are not the opposite of horrible eyesores. They are magnificent, they are the descendants of Our Lady of Chartres, they are the cathedrals of the oil industry. Indeed, recognition of this connection will add to our understanding of why it is that Christians on the right side of politics so deeply admire offshore drilling—they can't help but be impressed by the almost Gothic severity of an offshore platform, out there in the sea like a cathedral on a mountain.


True, drilling platforms are impressive structures, but offshore wind turbines also have religious echoes:

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  • Phault
With these machines, we see something that approximates the spiritual elongation found in much of the traditional art of Eastern Christianity. For that old branch of the church, to be holy is to be thin and long.