Conservatives, Christians And The Environment

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. Leviticus 25:23-24.

One of the most surprising things about Republicans to me is their adamant refusal to engage and embrace pro-environmental issues as part of their own agenda. The most conservative thing you can do is to conserve... and yet you have Republican radio talk show hosts telling us that we should not be worrying about protecting endangered species through conservative logging and fishing practices; that we should be pooh-poohing alternative energy initiatives because they are more expensive than carbon-based fuels; and, most noticeably, that we should be questioning and dismissing the science behind global warming.

Christian resistance to environmentalism is even more difficult to understand. If you are a Christian, what do you think Jesus would have to say about polluted rivers, extinct species, vanished forests, and acid rain? If anybody has a duty to preserve and protect the environment, it is Christians, who are told from the very first pages of the Bible that they were given dominion over this planet by God, and it is their responsibility, as instructed by God, to care for it.

(Now don't get me wrong: I'm not a big fan of government-sponsored environmental regulations, because they DO have a tendency to infringe on property rights. However, I am a fan of government-sponsored environmental initiatives, such as calling for "an X% reduction in such-and-such pollution in 5 years" and then giving incentives to accomplish (or disincentives to ignore) the initiatives. But foremost of all, I believe that it is up to us, as a society, to be careful with our immediate environment, and to be conscientious of the environment when we purchase goods and conduct business.)

Anyway, here is an evangelical pastor who is insisting that people practice environmentalism as part of a Christian life. Pastor Joel Hunter has decided to place some of his focus on parts of the Bible that instruct people to care for the earth and everything in it... and he is receiving a great reception from the thousands of people he preaches to.

I have a message for Rush Limbaugh and Senator Inhofe and all of the conservative bloggers out there who think that making fun of Al Gore and his movie "An Inconvenient Truth" is a great way to save big business and the oil companies and auto manufacturers from having to implement "unnecessary" expensive, environmental friendly programs: It's a message that smart, caring, concerned, Christian people are ignoring, and rightly so. Whatever point these pro-pollution pundits may have to make, it can't trump the original point that the Bible made in Genesis: "God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

The pro-environment message is really simple to grasp: Regardless of what anybody tells you about greenhouse gasses, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, drilling in the Arctic, saving the spotted owl, reducing our dependence on oil... it doesn't mean a damn thing. It doesn't usurp the most simple message of all... the message that everybody should live by: This is our planet, and we should respect it, manage it, conserve it, and care for it. No more. No less.