by
Walter Brasch
Rick Santorum, who is back in the race to be the Republican
nominee for president after finishing second to Mitt Romney in 2012, is a devout
Catholic.
So devout that he often makes bishops and
cardinals appear to be tools of a liberal conspiracy.
This time, the liberal conspiracy is headed by Pope Francis.
Whatever could the pope do or say that would upset millions of
evangelical Christians?
The pope
asked Christians to become “custodians of
creation,” boldly stating that a threat to peace “arises from the greedy exploitation
of environmental resources.”
He said, “Even if nature is at our disposition, all too often we do not respect
it or consider it a gracious gift which we must care for and set at the service
of our brothers and sisters, including future generations.”
The pope
also said mankind “too often, instead of using for the good, we exploit
greedily, to one another’s detriment.” He believes
there is global warming, that mankind is mostly responsible, and that mankind
must take steps to stop the problem to preserve what God has given.
Obviously, sacrilegious!
Heresy of the highest order. Words spoken that do not align with the divine
inspiration of Rick Santorum and the far-right.
God,
so these conservatives believe, gave us fossil fuels to exploit. They wrongly
interpret Genesis 1:28 as God giving
mankind dominance over all life and the Earth, instead of stewardship. For many
corporations and politicians, this means mankind has the right to drill and use
Earth’s resources however they see fit, that fracking is God’s gift to
humanity. To heat our homes. To drive our
cars. To allow multi-billion dollar corporations to make gross and obscene
profits.
But
they are in a minority.
Every major
religion has a basic tenet to protect and preserve the environment.
Many of the major Eastern religions,
including Hinduism, Taoism, Shinto, and Buddhism consider all life as interdependent. The responsibility
of government, according to Buddhism’s Kutadanta
Sutta, is to actively protect the environment, and all its flora and fauna.
The Koran of Islam warns, “And do not corrupt in the earth after being tilled.”
Saudi Arabia in 1994, long before much of the world began to understand the
long-term effects of uncontrolled gas emissions, cautioned, “Human activities
over the last century have so affected natural processes that the very
atmosphere upon which life depends has been altered.”
All indigenous
people, from the aborigines of Australia to the Native Americans of North
America, have shown respect for the land, which most believe is not theirs to
own, but only to enjoy until passed to their children.
The World Council
of Churches, which represents about 590 million Christians in 520,000
congregations, decided in July 2014 that to continue to hold fossil fuel stock
would compromise its ethics, and recommended the 349 member denominations
consider divesting oil and gas stock.
In the United States, the Eco-Justice Programs of the National Council
of Churches, a coalition of about 100,000 congregations with 45 million
members, declared fossil fuel extraction, “when used to generate electricity or
power machinery, also pollute our air, land, and water.” The Council also
determined, “In order to extract the oil from oceans or land we often put the
needs of ourselves over the health and well-being of the whole of Creation and
in many cases before the needs of future generations.”
The Unitarian-Universalist Association told us, “Oil and other fossil fuels are making
the planet uninhabitable. We must work urgently to switch to cleaner
alternatives and to convince our leaders to work toward that end as well.”
The Upper Susquehanna Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America, in the heart of the
Marcellus Shale, noting that climate change could be human-caused, called
for a repeal of all environmental and health exemptions that benefitted the oil
and gas industry.
In their 6,000 year
covenant with God, the Jews have considered themselves as stewards of the
Earth. In Genesis 2:15 is the requirement to care for the
Earth. In Ecclesiastes 7:13, the Jews
are told by God, “See to it that you don’t spoil or destroy my world—because if
you spoil it, there is nobody after you to fix it.” In the 14th century,
Talmudic scholar Rabbi Isaac ben Sheshet added strength to the command to care
for the Earth. Based upon the writings of the Torah and subsequent discussions by Jewish leaders, he observed
that mankind is forbidden “from gaining a livelihood at the expense of
another’s health.” The Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism notes that Jews are
“increasingly aware of the potentially negative environmental impact of
extracting, transporting and burning fossil fuels,” and its effect upon
advancing the problems of climate change.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon,
basing his comments upon both science and theological perspectives, declared: “Climate change is
intrinsically linked to public health, food and water security, migration,
peace and security. It is a moral issue. It is an issue of social justice,
human rights and fundamental ethics.” He said, “Climate change is
occurring—now—and human activities are the principal cause.”
Nevertheless,
even faced by theological and scientific evidence, Rick Santorum and the flock
who believe as he does, claim that even if there is climate change, human activity
is not responsible, and whatever the U.S. does would have no impact on climate
change. He further believes the pope, representing 1.2 billion Catholics,
should not comment upon climate change, especially if it differs from his views.
Mr. Santorum believes only scientists should comment. Of course, Santorum, a
politician who has commented on climate change, isn’t a scientist.
Here’s what
scientists say. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, “It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of
the observed warming since the mid-20th century.” About 97 percent of all
scientists studying climate change attribute global warming to human
activities.
One of those
scientists is Pope Francis, who studied chemistry, understands scientific
principles, and once taught in Argentine high schools.
[Dr. Brasch studied science as an
undergraduate, and was, for a time, a science/health reporter. His latest book
is Fracking Pennsylvania.]
No comments:
Post a Comment