In a front-page NY Times article , John Broder noted that opposition to the science of global warming has become “an article of faith” among Tea Party conservative activists. Brad Johnson has the story.
In addition to libertarians who believe “efforts to address climate change are seen as a conspiracy to impose world government and a sweeping redistribution of wealth,” others — prodded by the “preaching” of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Sean Hannity, and others — use their Biblical faith to justify their denial of the destructive power of coal and oil pollution. Tea Party organizers in Rep. Baron Hill’s (D-IN) district told Broder their denial of pollution was consistent with the Bible’s teachings:
“I read my Bible. He made this earth for us to utilize.” — Norman Dennison, founder of the Corydon Tea Party
“Being a strong Christian, I cannot help but believe the Lord placed a lot of minerals in our country and it’s not there to destroy us.” — Lisa Deaton, founder of We the People Indiana
Of course, the Bible teaches not only that earth’s bounty is a gift to humanity, but also that we must be its shepherds:
The land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants. Throughout the country that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land. Lev. 25:23-24
I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and you made my inheritance detestable. Jer. 2:7
“These Tea Party people represent a fringe view not only in politics, but also in religion,” Rev. Dr. Susan Thistlethwaite, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Politics, tells the Wonk Room. “The majority of Christians and other people of faith are supportive of protecting the environment precisely because of their religious beliefs, including the belief in God as creator.”
Many Christians, across the spectrum from evangelical to mainline to progressive, as well as scientists, celebrated when a group of evangelicals issued a statement in 2006 called “Climate Change: An Evangelical Call to Action.” This “biblically based moral witness” sets its theological claim for the urgency of climate change action in the biblical view of God as creator, and that damaging the creation is “an offense against God himself.”
“The world is less than it might be so long as human beings are less than they might be, since the capacity of human beings to shape the material environment into a sign of justice and generosity is blocked by human selfishness,” Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said in 2009. “In the doomsday scenarios we are so often invited to contemplate, the ultimate tragedy is that a material world capable of being a manifestation in human hands of divine love is left to itself, as humanity is gradually choked, drowned or starved by its own stupidity.”
Religious leaders from Christian and other faiths are also mobilizing to fight big oil’s Proposition 23 effort kill California’s climate protection law. “My Christian faith calls me to care for my neighbor and all that God has created,” explained Rev. Dean W. Nelson, Bishop, Southwest California Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in a press announcement today. “Proposition 23 calls us to look back, not forward, and to cast a blind eye to the urgent consequences of our addiction to fossil fuels. These consequences include affects on human health, human-caused climate change and its threat to food and water supplies and densely populated coastal areas, and our economic vulnerability to global energy politics and prices.”
– Brad Johnson, in a Wonk Room cross post.
JR: This is just an absurd straw man: “I cannot help but believe the Lord placed a lot of minerals in our country and it’s not there to destroy us.” Let’s stay with the premise that God constructed everything about the world. He put lots of potentially dangerous things in it. He put uranium in it. You can make some pretty powerful bombs with it. I think he expected us to be smart enough not to blow ourselves up, to choose not to detonate all those nuclear bombs we were clever enough to build. Heck, he put lots of other pollutants into environment — mercury, arsenic. He gave us brains so that we could figure out what stuff not to do, what stuff to avoid, and what stuff to remove from our air and water so as not to harm ourselves and our children and future generations.
Related Posts:
- Tea Party leader: “Some people say I’m extreme, but they said the John Birch Society was extreme, too.”
- Inhofe on why global warming isn’t real: “God’s still up there.”
- Lobbyist Dick Armey’s Gospel of Pollution (GOP): ‘As an article of Faith,’ it is ‘pretentious’ to believe in global warming
- Rep. Shimkus: “Man will not destroy this Earth. This Earth will not be destroyed by a flood.” Rep. Barton: “I wish I had another dozen John Shimkuses on the committee.”
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err.. could I draw your attention – all you God fearing people- to Genesis Chapter 2:15, where it says: ” And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and keep it”. If that is not a clear indiction that we should care for our God given world, what is? Our obligation is clear; dress it and keep it. That is God´s will.. people.
Mad Hatters, the lot.
In addition to radiative forcing, science must now reckon the increase in the geothermal flux from the heat of friction of William F. Buckley and H.L. Mencken spinning in their unquiet graves :
http://www.nationalreview.com/ planet-gore/ 250442/ climate-skepticism-europe-vs-america-sterling-burnett
There is only one way to fight this type of dangerous and irresponsible thinking — get out and vote on election day! Every vote makes a difference.
You have to be a really lost soul to obtain your information about atmospheric chemistry from Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and the religious charlatans who listen to them. The oil companies’ intrusions into our churches are similar to what they’ve done in government, media, and universities, and should be making people just as angry as are the bizarre followers of the Tea Party.
True religious leaders like Archbiship Williams or Pastor Warren are not afraid to speak out on principle. Let’s see if they and other more knowledgeable spiritual leaders can step up here.
This attitude of:
“He [God] made this earth for us to utilize.”
and
“Being a strong Christian, I cannot help but believe the Lord placed a lot of minerals in our country and it’s not there to destroy us.”
seems to harken back to the old notion that the wilderness is only redeemed when its resources are exploited by man.
I am reminded of John Muir and his notion that man is redeemed by wilderness… John Muir is far better than I at making the case:
http://www.yosemite.ca.us/ john_muir_writings/ mans_place_in_the_universe.html
As for those baggers who believe that “minerals in our country…[are] not there to destroy us.” Could we get some volunteers for the nuclear waste repository?
What is so hard to understand about “Love one another”. There is no “greed is good” in the bible, no mention of social welfare being evil.
Being a strong Christian . . . I can’t believe that so many other Christians have such off-the-wall, self-centered theology. A central belief of traditional Christianity is that our view of the world should be challenged and changed by the Biblical text . . . all these folks seem to have done is the exact opposite – reading the bits of the Bible they like, interpreted by them in a way that “just happens” to support exactly what they already thought anyway.
Religion can be an extraordinary way for humanity live in the world except when it is used as a sham.
Christopher Marlowe, “Faust”, Scene III, l. 74.
“Why this is Hell, nor am I out of it.”
yeah well the problem here is people who’ve convinced themselves they’re in a blessed in-group that gives & gets exactly what it wants. they went looking for invincible armor and found it in selective reading of their faith.
Sounds like these Tea Party folks have been speaking to Satan.
Don’t know whether to laugh or cry–probably the latter given the likely effect: no action as the world heats up.
If Jesus were to return today, he just might look around and say to himself, “Maybe those Romans weren’t so bad after all!”
Using the Pollution-for-Profit Parties thinking. Perhaps all those fossil fuels are there to give humanity a CO2 reserve to protect humanity and earth’s life support systems from the NEXT inevitable ice age.
To use this kind of argumentation leads nowhere because contradictory Bible passage can be quoted ad nauseum; religion simply isn’t about reason:
-Martin Luther
Martin Luther?
Author of Von den Juden und Ihren Lügen (On the Jews and Their Lies)?
I have heard of him. I am not impressed. Neither am I impressed with the notion that faith and reason are necessarily at odds.
These people who make arguements that belief in God is not congruent with a concern for the enviroment are fools.
Nothing more, nothing less.
I wonder how these so-called religious people think God would view mass murder and suffering inflicted on innocent people. Because that’s exactly what they’re advocating for, with a sizable (in human terms) time lag — a few decades — between now and when the impacts ratchet up to that level.
The myopia of some supposedly educated adults in this world is truly breathtaking…
I agree with Joe regarding reason.
Many Quakers believe that we should study the natural sciences so as to better appreciate the creation and to better care for it.
For how could Man find the Confidence to abuse [the creation], while they should see the Great Creator stare them in the face, in all and every part thereof?
William Penn
They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain;
For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of God,
As the waters cover the sea.
Isaiah 11:9
I’ve never trusted these newcomer Bronze Age or Iron Age religions. Look to the Copper Age for the original wisdom:
According to the original civilized religion (of the very first city – Eridu, founded 5400 BCE) Enlil, the king of the gods, was going to destroy annoying humankind. He successively sends drought, famine and plague to kill off the pesky humans, but his half-brother Enki (patron god of Eridu) thwarts his plans by teaching humans about irrigation, granaries and medicine. Enraged, Enlil convenes a Council of Deities and gets them to promise not to tell humankind that he plans their total annihilation with a Flood. Enki gets around this prohibition by telling the walls of Atrahasis’ reed hut about the impending Flood. With advance warning, this “exceedingly wise” human is able to build an Ark and save his family and many animals.
Enlil is angry his will has been thwarted yet again, and Enki is named as the culprit. As the god of what we would call ecology, Enki explains that Enlil is unfair to punish the guiltless Atrahasis for the sins of his fellows, and secures a promise that the gods will not eliminate humankind if they limit their numbers and live within the means of the natural world. The threat is made, however, that if humans do not honor their side of the covenant the gods will be free to wreak havoc once again.
http://ferrebeekeeper.wordpress.com/2010/05/26/
I’ve said it before, but it bares repeating. Jesus save us from your followers. These folks won’t be satisfied until we are all marching backwards in lockstep with their views. I believe that it won’t happen, but looking at the average American voter I’ve got my doubts.
There is also a powerfully rationalist strand in much of Catholicism. It has been principled dogma fort the last 150+ years that science and faith cannot conflict. The reason (going back at least to Aquinas) is that science deals with nature which is “inside” time, while God is “outside” of temporality. The two require fundamentally different modes of descriptions and understanding, and as such cannot come into conflict.
We’re blessed with a bounty of food in the Western world too, but wouldn’t the Lord frown upon gluttony, and the pollution of rivers and oceans with the “by-products”? The interesting thing is that nature/God locked away so much carbon deep within the Earth, apparently with the effect of moving climate to a state more friendly to biodiversity and civilization. It may have been the “milk” of the industrialized world, but why would the teabaggers assume that we were never meant to wean ourselves off it before the harm outweighs the benefit?
Oh how I wish I could share the Tea Partiers’ faith that God put coal and oil on the Earth for humans to burn, and that He would never let us harm ourselves.
But as a fact-based, cell phone-carrying, evidence-based practicing emergency physician who flies in airplanes, uses a computer, and believes in gravity and modern medicine, that kind of solace escapes me. My patients, who include people of personal faith, expect me to base their treatment on the latest science. Faith has an important role and is a wonderful adjunct to getting through hard times, as long as it doesn’t cause harmful delay. Facts work best when there’s a crisis to solve. Denial is often fatal.
Those who choose to value the rantings of talk show hosts and TV ideologues over scientific facts might pause a moment to consider the ramifications of humans destroying God’s Creation. We are causing the mass extinction now underway. Anyone brave enough to face the consequences of that will understand the potentially Biblical scale punishment that will follow.
One more scientific fact: time is running out, and Nature doesn’t care what happens. Nature follows God’s laws of chemistry, physics and biology, negotiates with no one, and does not grant tenure on this planet.
Peter G. Joseph, M.D.
San Anselmo, CA
415 990-9369
The storm, which killed 26 people and wreaked havoc when it crossed the northern Philippines earlier this week, has dumped a record 42 inches (106 centimeters) of rain in northeastern Taiwan as it makes its way toward China’s southeastern coast with winds above 100 mph (160 kph).
http://online.wsj.com/ article/ SB10001424052702303871104575567241090426312.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Sea Levels Rising Around South Atlantic’s Falkland Islands, 19th-Century Benchmarks Reveal
After correction for air pressure effects and vertical land movement due to geological processes, the researchers find that sea levels rose by an average of around 0.75 millimetres a year between 1842 and the early 1980s. They point out that this figure is similar to previous estimates for the long-term rate of sea-level rise at Port Arthurin Tasmania, measurements with which Ross was also associated, and at other locations in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
However, they also find evidence that the rate of sea-level rise has accelerated over recent decades. Specifically, they estimate that sea levels around the Falkland Islands have risen by an average of around 2.5 millimetres a year since 1992, a figure consistent with measurements made by satellite radar altimeters over the same period.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/ releases/ 2010/ 10/ 101020091855.htm
Cyclone Giri has formed in the Bay of Bengal -
http://www.usno.navy.mil/ NOOC/ nmfc-ph/ RSS/ jtwc/ warnings/ io0410.gif
Bringing more rain into Indochina ……
From 500 to 1,200 millimetres of rain fell on central Vietnam October 14 through Tuesday with some parts of Ha Tinh and Nghe An provinces reporting up to 2 metres of rainfall, officials said.
http://www.earthtimes.org/ articles/ news/ 349687,bus-found-summary.html
Hedora, one of the beasts described by St. John the Divine, is a clear example of Mankind’s undoing by his own hand. In addition, if the deniers interviewed by Mr. Broder actually read their Bible they would know to use the Hedora passages to refute claims that dinosaurs are not addressed by the scriptures.
You have to know these things if you want to be the governor of Alaska or a senator from Oklahoma.
They forgot to mention that God likes Peak Oil too.
“Being a strong Christian, I cannot help but believe the Lord placed a lot of minerals in our country and it’s not there to destroy us.” — Lisa Deaton, founder of We the People Indiana
God likes his minerals so much that he/she/it made them finite. He/She/It then distributed them unevenly around the globe. Some countries that don’t even believe in Christianity, got the most oil.
We are doomed.
These are the consequences if people ignore proper care for creation:
Leviticus 26:33-35
“33 I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins. 34 Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate and you are in the country of your enemies; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. 35 All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it.”
In the Torah and the Prophets is an almost Buddist snetiment about the earth and living beings, which Buddists call “sentient beings”.
This is the second covenant, which we violate when we destroy the earth and other living creatures:
Genesis 9
16 “Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” 17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”
This kind of viewpoint comes from a world view that sees an infinite land of resources through which the ‘enterprising citizen’ can move effortlessly on to prosperity. Or to put it more neatly ‘Go west young man’.
In fact it literally needs a flat, endless earth for this economic model. The American mind-set has been locked into this from the pioneer days. The Tea Bag Taliban have a lot in common with the Flat Earth Society.
The Age of Reason is coming to an end. What would Ben Franklin make of it? I’m afraid Robert Heinlein’s vision from ‘If this goes on’ is looking even more likely.
I misspelled Buddhist and sentiment in #31.
For those of you who are literalists, I want to clarify that I am writing figuratively. The consequences are real, but mostly self-imposed. We cannot look to God for salvation from destroying the earth.
Here is another passage that links our pollution of water and earth with God’s concern for the poor and oppressed:
Ezekiel 34 (New International Version)
15 I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign LORD. 16 I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.
17 ” ‘As for you, my flock, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will judge between one sheep and another, and between rams and goats. 18 Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? 19 Must my flock feed on what you have trampled and drink what you have muddied with your feet?
20 ” ‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says to them: See, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 21 Because you shove with flank and shoulder, butting all the weak sheep with your horns until you have driven them away, 22 I will save my flock, and they will no longer be plundered. I will judge between one sheep and another.”
None of these passages sound anything like blanket statements about a limitless and invulnerable earth. To the contrary, these are proscriptions to respect the land or God will enforce a Sabbath for the land (a rest from humans), that all creatures are part of the covenant, and that mistreatment of water and land is robbing from other people.
James Hansen’s “Storms of My Grandchildren” finds consonance in the Biblical texts. We are to preserve (conserve) the earth for all generations or suffer the consequences. This is what ancient faiths tell us, especially in the Biblical record. Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Native Religions also strongly support a view of treating the earth right.
I am just posting to announce that David B. Benson at #2 has won today’s internet.
A liitle quote from the genius John Milton, in the context of comment 10. I find it easy to project Satan’s angst (in Paradise Lost) onto future humanity –
Me miserable! which way shall I fly
Infinite wrath, and infinite despair?
Which way I fly is hell; myself am hell;
And in the lowest deep a lower deep
Still threat’ning to devour me opens wide;
To which the hell I suffer seems a heav’n.
Thats the trouble with faith – not one can agree on it but in the USA a lot of people agree to believe in it.
The nations were angry; and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great- and for destroying those who destroy the earth.”
Revelation 11:17-19 New International Version