re: Symbolism versus substance
The people being taught the Gaean religion will grow up to be politicians. We're already dealing with the politicians who were taught leftist crap through the 60s.
When someone inevitably passes a law making it illegal to sell genetically-engineered food in a particular state for no more scientific reason than the faith that genetic engineering is evil, they won't have learned that from a correspondence course.
Irrational crap is not a monopoly of the Right.