Christian Right Missing Biblical Command For Earth Stewardship
By James Donahue
In their rush to dismantle US environmental laws and allow big industry to exploit and pollute the planet, many high-riding, unchecked Bible thumping right-wing Christian political types illustrate their ignorance when it comes to the contents of the book they flaunt.
While this writer in no way condones Christianity, he knows what is in the Bible. It includes a commandment by God, found in Genesis 2:15, to “dress and keep” the garden, which we perceive as the Earth as it existed when humans arrived.
Some Christian environmental groups are well aware of the command to be good stewards of the Earth, and they share our concerns about the reckless way the former Bush Administration and the current Trump Tea Bag, Right-Wing Republicans hanging around Washington are turning their back on this important covenant.
The Bible has long been interpreted to say that the agreement is between man and an external God-creator looking down on us from the clouds. But we believe the covenant is really an arrangement drawn between humans and the Mother Earth, from where we sprang and from whom we receive our daily sustenance for life. Our astronomical tools, as powerful as they have become, have yet to find a grandfather-type God hanging around up there.
When you think about it . . . and no matter the truth behind its origins . . . this amounts to a common sense kind of covenant. It did not require a signed legal document, nor did it involve the commanding voice speaking down from the heavens to the terrified band of illiterate humans crawling from out of cave dwellings. Either we love and care for our garden, or it dies. If that happens we starve, the water turns to poison, the air to toxic gasses, and all life goes extinct.
The Christians may argue against this concept until dooms day, but the fact remains that from their own “holy” book, they also are bound by the same covenant that the rest of us are. Sadly they are ignoring this important task assigned to all nations, all creeds and all nationalities. Consequently, doomsday may be closer than anyone wishes to think. Because of the odd promises written in the Book of the Revelation, it appears that many Bible believers are actually expecting doomsday to occur and they no longer care about the Earth.
It is interesting to note that many people including religious leaders are beginning to agree that something is radically wrong with the extreme right wing cult that took over Washington during the Bush years and yet again under Trump. It is becoming politically popular to bash that whole Bible-thumping gang as being responsible for the extreme economic, political and environmental mess that we now are facing.
Even before Bush left office, the National Association of Evangelicals, an organization of 45,000 churches representing an estimated 30 million members, circulated a draft of a policy statement that urged lawmakers to reinstate laws placing mandatory controls of carbon emissions on industry.
Since taking office in 2001 Mr. Bush systematically scrapped these controls, either through executive order or by encouraging legislative action. He used natural disasters like Gulf hurricane damage to push urgent bills through the two houses designed to help oil and gas companies repair their plants and get the carbon-based fuels flowing again at maximum speed.
Much of this damage was then reversed during the eight years President Barack Obama was in power. Then Trump and his Republican gangsters seized control. Now all that Bush began is not only being repeated, but brought to the extreme. Trump has withdrawn from an international effort to curtail carbon emissions, is endosing coal, oil and gas fuels, erasing carbon emission rules for U.S. industry, opening sacred lands for oil and gas well exploration and consequently defying all of the holy laws established in the Old Testament. As the clock ticks world scientists are now warning that it may be too late to stop the dramatic climate changes, extreme crop failures and the world-wide economic disaster already coming down upon us.
There now seems to be a total disregard in Washington of the Biblical teachings requiring humans to be good stewards of the earth.
“We believe that we have a rightful responsibility for what the Bible itself challenges,” said Richard Cizik, the association’s vice president for governmental affairs. “Working the land and caring for it go hand in hand. We ought to be able to bring to the debate a new voice.”
The problem politicians and President Obama faced in enforcing the original Kyoto Agreement and pushing for laws forcing higher clean air standards for U. S. industry was always financial. Trump has completely abandoned the Paris Agreement that followed. When the Supreme Court opened the door to recognize corporations as "people" and giving them the power to finance political campaigns, the quest for money became much more important than Biblical covenants to protect the Earth. The demands of Big Oil, Big Coal, Big Pharma and all of the other industrial giants doling out campaign cash became first priority.
Now with our nation facing a multi-trillion dollar debt, our military locked in numerous overseas wars, and millions of Americans out of work or facing possible loss of their jobs, our standard of living is falling fast. If sanity ever returns to Washington, will Americans be willing or able to pay the high price we must face for the survival of future generations?
By James Donahue
In their rush to dismantle US environmental laws and allow big industry to exploit and pollute the planet, many high-riding, unchecked Bible thumping right-wing Christian political types illustrate their ignorance when it comes to the contents of the book they flaunt.
While this writer in no way condones Christianity, he knows what is in the Bible. It includes a commandment by God, found in Genesis 2:15, to “dress and keep” the garden, which we perceive as the Earth as it existed when humans arrived.
Some Christian environmental groups are well aware of the command to be good stewards of the Earth, and they share our concerns about the reckless way the former Bush Administration and the current Trump Tea Bag, Right-Wing Republicans hanging around Washington are turning their back on this important covenant.
The Bible has long been interpreted to say that the agreement is between man and an external God-creator looking down on us from the clouds. But we believe the covenant is really an arrangement drawn between humans and the Mother Earth, from where we sprang and from whom we receive our daily sustenance for life. Our astronomical tools, as powerful as they have become, have yet to find a grandfather-type God hanging around up there.
When you think about it . . . and no matter the truth behind its origins . . . this amounts to a common sense kind of covenant. It did not require a signed legal document, nor did it involve the commanding voice speaking down from the heavens to the terrified band of illiterate humans crawling from out of cave dwellings. Either we love and care for our garden, or it dies. If that happens we starve, the water turns to poison, the air to toxic gasses, and all life goes extinct.
The Christians may argue against this concept until dooms day, but the fact remains that from their own “holy” book, they also are bound by the same covenant that the rest of us are. Sadly they are ignoring this important task assigned to all nations, all creeds and all nationalities. Consequently, doomsday may be closer than anyone wishes to think. Because of the odd promises written in the Book of the Revelation, it appears that many Bible believers are actually expecting doomsday to occur and they no longer care about the Earth.
It is interesting to note that many people including religious leaders are beginning to agree that something is radically wrong with the extreme right wing cult that took over Washington during the Bush years and yet again under Trump. It is becoming politically popular to bash that whole Bible-thumping gang as being responsible for the extreme economic, political and environmental mess that we now are facing.
Even before Bush left office, the National Association of Evangelicals, an organization of 45,000 churches representing an estimated 30 million members, circulated a draft of a policy statement that urged lawmakers to reinstate laws placing mandatory controls of carbon emissions on industry.
Since taking office in 2001 Mr. Bush systematically scrapped these controls, either through executive order or by encouraging legislative action. He used natural disasters like Gulf hurricane damage to push urgent bills through the two houses designed to help oil and gas companies repair their plants and get the carbon-based fuels flowing again at maximum speed.
Much of this damage was then reversed during the eight years President Barack Obama was in power. Then Trump and his Republican gangsters seized control. Now all that Bush began is not only being repeated, but brought to the extreme. Trump has withdrawn from an international effort to curtail carbon emissions, is endosing coal, oil and gas fuels, erasing carbon emission rules for U.S. industry, opening sacred lands for oil and gas well exploration and consequently defying all of the holy laws established in the Old Testament. As the clock ticks world scientists are now warning that it may be too late to stop the dramatic climate changes, extreme crop failures and the world-wide economic disaster already coming down upon us.
There now seems to be a total disregard in Washington of the Biblical teachings requiring humans to be good stewards of the earth.
“We believe that we have a rightful responsibility for what the Bible itself challenges,” said Richard Cizik, the association’s vice president for governmental affairs. “Working the land and caring for it go hand in hand. We ought to be able to bring to the debate a new voice.”
The problem politicians and President Obama faced in enforcing the original Kyoto Agreement and pushing for laws forcing higher clean air standards for U. S. industry was always financial. Trump has completely abandoned the Paris Agreement that followed. When the Supreme Court opened the door to recognize corporations as "people" and giving them the power to finance political campaigns, the quest for money became much more important than Biblical covenants to protect the Earth. The demands of Big Oil, Big Coal, Big Pharma and all of the other industrial giants doling out campaign cash became first priority.
Now with our nation facing a multi-trillion dollar debt, our military locked in numerous overseas wars, and millions of Americans out of work or facing possible loss of their jobs, our standard of living is falling fast. If sanity ever returns to Washington, will Americans be willing or able to pay the high price we must face for the survival of future generations?