‘Is God really going to let the Earth burn up?’

May 31, 2006

The conflicts between the religious right movement and, well, everyone else on earth are well known. But [tag]the Guardian[/tag]’s [tag]Stephen Bates [/tag]has a terrific item today on the under-reported conflicts within the [tag]religious right [/tag]itself.

Bates talked to [tag]Randy Brinson[/tag], for example, who helped organize the Redeem the Vote initiative in 2004, but who is now receiving threatening phone calls from conservative activists because Brinson has criticized the partisan tactics of the religious right.

The [tag]National Association of Evangelicals[/tag]’ [tag]Rich Cizik [/tag]has it even worse.

In his office in Washington DC, Rich Cizik, vice-president of the National Association of Evangelicals, the largest such umbrella group in the US, is also feeling battered. His mistake has been to become interested in the [tag]environment[/tag], and he has been told that is not on the religious right’s agenda.

Mr Cizik, an ordained minister of the Evangelical Presbyterian church and otherwise impeccably conservative on social issues such as abortion, stem-cell research and homosexuality, believes concern for the environment arises from Biblical injunctions about the stewardship of the Earth. The movement’s political leadership, however, sees the issue as a distraction from its main tactical priorities: getting more conservatives on the supreme court, banning gay marriages and overturning Roe v Wade, the 1973 abortion ruling.

“It is supposed to be counterproductive even to consider this. I guess they do not want to part company with the president. This is nothing more than political assassination. I may lose my job.”

Cizik isn’t having much luck. Jerry [tag]Falwell [/tag]has said [tag]global warming[/tag] is “a myth,” and predicted that “our grandchildren will laugh at those who predicted global warming. We’ll be cooler then, if the Lord hasn’t returned.” It’s a relatively common sentiment in evangelical circles.

But the amazing thing is just how far these guys are willing to go down this theological road. A religious right lobbyist in DC told the Guardian:

“Rich [Cizik] is just being stupid on this issue. There may be a debate to be had but … people can only sustain so many moral movements in their lifetime. Is [tag]God [/tag]really going to let the [tag]Earth [/tag]burn up?”

See? Don’t worry about global warming. As far as the religious right is concerned, God will simply intervene and set things right. Feel better?

God’s record of intervening to prevent tragic human stupidity is, unfortunately, not good.

  • Mr. Cizik needs to get with the program. If it doesn’t some how relate back to sex it is not on the agenda. Sex and sex related issues are the only agenda item for these guys. Other supposedly Christian value and socially conscious ideas are on the agenda of the hated Liberals.

    And anyway considering the Rapture is just around the corner, they don’t care about the environment because it won’t matter

  • Somebody pass me the UV4300 I’m gonna go and get a tan down by Arizona Bay…….

  • ” As far as the religious right is concerned, God will simply intervene and set things right. Feel better?”

    In a word……no. 🙁

  • Ya know I should have added that this is science and most evangelicals are actively hostile to science so of course they wouldn’t be interested in this topic. Not only would time/attention on this take away from time/attention spent on their pet projects and is a topic they can’t relate to the Bible easily but they figure if they cover their eyes and plug their ears it isn there because it can’t be seen/heard.

  • none of you, obviously, have found jesus. have you looked behind the couch? last i heard that was where he was hiding.

  • Faith-based climatology. You can probably major in it at Bob Jones U.
    Someone might remind them that if they open that Bible they’re busy thumping on, God’s interventions in earth’s climate tend towards apocalyptic floods and raining fire.

  • Zeitgeist is right. The theologies of many of these idiot extremists includes the end of the earth as being by fire. Used to be they thought it would be atomic or nuclear war. Now they come out with something different? Some of these cults/sects of xtianity will not be very happy.

    By the Tao, don’t you just love watching some of these theological disputes??

    😉

  • The inconsistency and tortured logic of those on the extreme right becomes more pronounced on a daily basis. As they have felt embolden to show more and more of their true colors, I’m convinced they have set in motion their own diminishing credibility and influence.

    What becomes more and more apparent is the underlying prejudice and bias that they have previously attempted to portray as a comprehensive moral doctrine. Clearly, as they have been confronted by an array of moral choices, the glaring incongruence’s have been illuminated leaving many to conclude that their movement is merely a fraudulent attempt to dictate the selective application of the judgmental and punitive beliefs they support.

    To respond to the religious right lobbyist in DC who posits, “Is God really going to let the Earth burn up?”…the questions and answers are many:

    1. If God will solve global warming, then why do those on the religious right feel they need to interject their will on other issues…wouldn’t the same God solve their concerns for the family and marriage…why do we need a constitutional amendment for some issues and not others?

    2. Clearly, the goal of those on the right is to dictate the behaviors they value…especially relating to issues like sex, abortion, and marriage. Issues that relate to the pursuit of wealth at the expense of the climate interfere with the unfettered pursuit of power and influence…since they see the imposition of their beliefs as being dependent upon obtaining wealth which leads to the power to impose. They embrace the notion that he, who has the gold, writes the rules.

    3. Does Pat Robertson wants to sell supplements that allow one to leg press 2,000 pounds because he accepts that God has a plan for each of us…or because he is afraid to die and wants to counteract Gods plan that includes the natural process of aging…or because he can make more money off the fear of death if he sells both salvation AND supplements to his followers?

    4. If God will intervene to prevent the world from burning up…and at the same time he sent Katrina to punish the immorality of New Orleans (although his aim seemed a bit off since it also damaged other areas), then how will God make the subtle distinctions necessary to punish the bad and preserve the good? Is he only warming areas he dislikes? Will he provide AC to the good people?

    5. If they are so convinced that the Lord is going to be returning shortly (rapture crapture) then why build bigger churches and amass wealth…why worry about what the Supreme Court may do 20 years from now…why worry about redrawing congressional districts in Texas to insure that Republicans will hold those seats?

    IMHO, it is nothing more than…Blatant…Biased…Bigotry

    more observations here:

    http://www.thoughttheater.com

  • agree with #2 – unless gays or abortions are somehow responsible for global warming, it is a non-issue for the Religious Right.

  • well, one nutcase right group thinks gays are the cause of the Iraq war and other things and therefore they protest at military funerals (I don’t quite get the connections). so why not global warming.

  • Prompted by bubba, I say we run a contest to see who comes up with the most convoluted/insane way to blame gays/premarital sex/abortion for environmental woes. Of course this could come back to haunt us ’cause we run the risk of having them rip off our ideas and using them for their very own.

    Man am I having fun with this idiocy or what?

  • Clearly, we are not inspiring the proper fear of climatic warming. I propose that we should be stressing some of the other adverse consequences. For instance:

    1) As temperatures rise, people will start wearing cooler and more revealing clothing, leading to greater sensuality and heightened public lust, and thus MORE SEX.

    2) As the climate warms, tropical parasites will spread into temperate zones, requiring more bare-skin inspections of members of the opposite sex, leading to MORE SEX.

    3) With climate warming, the ice caps will melt, which will raise sea level. Much of the land near the modern coast consists of coastal plains, which tend to make for long linear coastlines. However, landscapes further inland tend to be hillier, so when the sea level rises and the seas invade the hills inland we will get much longer coastlines with far more bays and headlands. The extra shoreline and the prettier and more varied scenery (not to mention the invitingly warmer waters) will cause people to spend more time at the beach, which leads to more people seeing members of the opposite sex in bikinis and speedos, which leads to heightened public lust and MORE SEX.

    4) With climatic warming, nights will become more torrid, making it harder to get to sleep. This will cause people to have MORE SEX (unless they have been married a while, of course).

    5) Because sea levels will rise, ocean crossing journeys will become longer. This will make air travel more expensive, so we will rely increasingly on ship journeys. Ship journeys were so notoriously boring in the olden days that people traditionally entertained themselves by pursuing shipboard romances. Thus when climate warming makes us return to long ship journeys, this will cause people to have MORE SEX.

    6) People of the tropics have long been notorious for lax morals. As their tropical islands flood and as temperate zones warm up and become more inviting, these people will flood poleward, bring with them their hedonist life styles, leading to MORE SEX.

    7) We’ve seen that climate warming will lead to people spending more time at the beach. Spending time at the beach really got popular in England during a period referred to as the “Gay Nineties”. Do I really have to spell out the dangers to public morals any further?

  • 1) Timmy deserves extra credit for working in a Bill Hicks reference.

    2) If you want to engage fundamentalists on their own terms, remind them that 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel thought YHWH wouldn’t let them be destroyed.

  • Scott,

    Thanks Man! Bill is surely rolling in his grave at this administration. If only he had hung around for this, just IMAGINE the material…..whoo.

  • Yeah burning up the earth is exactly what the bible promised for next time.

    Thanks for the laughs N. Wells.

  • God has already intervened – by designing a self-regulating system that will give us our next ice age if we don’t lower the CO2 levels. Not quite sure why so many think that God really gives a shit about them as individuals.

  • “Rich [Cizik] is just being stupid on this issue. There may be a debate to be had but … people can only sustain so many moral movements in their lifetime.”

    It’s really disappointing that we reached the moral imperative that broke the camel’s back too late to deal with climate change. No wonder we’ve got genocide, sex slaves, still spreading AIDS, refugees, worldwide corporate criminality, economic inequality, etc., etc., etc. The focus on gay marriage, abortion and goose stepping judges has broken the morality bank. The human capacity for moral movements has been reached. I’m glad we don’t have to worry about that anymore. It was so depressing to think about all that other stuff.

  • The reasons they want Cizik, Rick Warren, et al. to get off the global warming bandwagon is, first, b/c the issue of stewardship doesn’t get the base riled up and motivated in such a way that ensures them getting to the polls. It has very little to do with theological disagreement on the issue, everything to do with Dobson, Scarborough, and others wanting to do whatever they can to ensure their present secular political influence and power.

    Second, advancing the issue of being stewards of the environment puts those advancing the idea squarely at odds with Republican platform and right in bed with Democrats. Additionally, the issue exposes the leaders of the religious right as being more in bed with corporate hegemony and promoting corporate concerns than they are with being theologically consistent.

    The delicious irony here is that the very people who are advocating a complete Christianizing of the social order are the ones working to limit theological influence over government policy. In other words, they want a government that is evangelical, but only evangelical on those issues that ensure their stranglehold on political power. And those issues are inevitably the ones that seek to define those not in agreement with their definition of right and wrong.

    For example, take homosexuality. For all the attention it has received from the religious right, one would think that the Bible is replete with condemnation of homosexuals and their behavior. But in fact, at the very most the issue is mentioned a mere 7 times in the entire Bible (and that’s giving the benefit of the doubt to 2 of the 7….it really only comes up 5 times).

    Contrast that with the fact that 1 in every 21 verses throughout the Bible deals with economic inequality amongst God’s people being a sin. In the New Testament, that ratio drops to 1 in every 17, and in the Gospel of Luke that drops even further to 1 in every 12 verses.

    Based on that, is there any question that poverty and oppression of the poor is of far more importance to God than where one puts his or her genitals? But, you never hear of that from the likes of Falwell, Robertson, Scarborough, etc., and the reason is self-evident: it condemns the very economic system that our country employs and calls into question 2 of the most important guarantors of Republican power: the uberwealthy and corporation.

    Thankfully, there are some fairly heavy hitters on the religious right who are starting to see the hypocrisy. Cizik, to a degree, is one. However, the biggest one who has broken ranks is Randy Brinson, to the point where he’s literally turned in his party allegiance. And make no mistake: the loss of Brinson is a huge blow to the religious right. His “Redeem the Vote” ended up registering more voters for Bush than Focus on the Family, the Southern Baptist Convention, American Family Association, and the Family Research Council – – COMBINED.

    He’s literally left them over the very issues laid out above (environmental responsibility and the Republicans putting corporate interests over and above the responsibility for caring for the poor), and has offered his entire network to those Democrats promoting issues that are necessary to the Gospel.

    Hence, the death threats are not because of his stance on the environment. The threats are the result of a real fear that the religious right have of being pushed out of power and exposed for what they are – – hypocritical manipulators of the poor and dispossessed.

    In other words, Sadducees.

  • God helps those that help themselves.
    I do not give a rats ass what Jerry Falwell has to say about global warming.
    when he can show me a BS, MS or Phd in science, then I will listen to what he has to say.

    Americans need to look at the number of lies this administration has told us, realise that we are the omly nation who says there is no such thing as global warming, and then realise that we are in deep trouble.

    this administration and republican led congress are habitual liars.
    it is a shame, we the People, accept this.

  • well wen jerry falwell becomes prezident (wich by the way I would vote for) you’ll all see that faith in the LORD withowt any question beats all the stoopid colledge degree you damned (literaly) liberals have come up with since time began 4 thousend years ago. you’r all going to hell.

  • The theology of the religious right is no more than a commercialized, capitalist Jesus.

    At the root of this fundamentalism is a denial that you are your brother’s keeper or that you have any moral duty to anyone. As long as you know the right person, and the right answers, you’re in.

    Morality is reduced to personal piety, symbolized by a fish on your car or a Ten Commandments sign in your yard, and sex. It is no coincidence that most of the things they preach on tend to be “other peoples’ sins”, e.g. preaching the evils of homosexuality to heterosexuals, the dangers of premarital sex to the married, and the perils of disbelief to believers.

    They resemble a certain group of prominent religious leaders in the New Testament, but it isn’t the apostles.

    Contrast this with the Biblical picture of the last judgement from the real Jesus in Matthew 25:31-46.

    31″When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

    34″Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

    37″Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

    40″The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

    41″Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

    44″They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

    45″He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

    46″Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

  • The fallback, of course, if God doesn’t intervene is that it’s the fault of liberals, gays, and atheists, thus justifying persecution of those groups.

  • Ummm, has she ever considered that global warming is part of God’s plan (not that I believe it). Afterall, he did destroy nearly all life on Earth at least once according to the story of Noah…

    Besides, how does she KNOW what God will do/not do?

  • Jerry Falwell has said global warming is “a myth,” and predicted that “our grandchildren will laugh at those who predicted global warming. We’ll be cooler then, if the Lord hasn’t returned.”

    …. I thought that the main message of ANY and ALL religious imbeciles is that their messiah is returning, shortly that is. It is good to remember that the mainly uneducated, lower religious life forms of early christianity were expecting jesus’ return in the next few short years to liberate the jews from the romans … 2,000 years later and still waiting … there’s patience for you!

    At any rate, we must press these imbeciles to pinpoint a year -a decade would be fine- as to when their fucking christ should show up.
    falwell has made a living -as a tour guide promising better seats, front row seats that is- telling his following idiots that he knows jesus, that he is a close personal friend of jesus- and that jesus told him he was coming .. soon …
    Our rotund faith-imbibed imbecile is now unsure if or when jesus will return as he states: ‘… if the lord hasn’t returned …’
    Can’t lose at that game, the people throwing money at you are delusional to begin with.

  • Hmmm, I don’t know what makes the non-belibevers think that God won’t interfere in preventing massive destruction, death, pestilence, millions of people dying, fighting over natural resources, killing each other because their version of deity tells them to kill others, and, finally, why God wouldn’t allow humans to self-destruct?????!!!!

    Anyone for Zeus ex-machina?

  • This discussion makes me feel vaguely creative (oh, I don’t mean in a Christian manner, oh, no no).
    But I’m in the mood for a limerick.

    Amidst all the christianist skank
    g. warming just ain’t on their plank
    they’d rather condemn you
    and watch the way you screw
    and laugh all the way to the bank

    there.. now I feel better.

  • “God’s record of intervening to prevent tragic human stupidity is, unfortunately, not good.”

    I just had to say: DAMN that was perfect.

  • Stewardship environmentalism, especially among evangelicals, doesn’t get much press, because it complicates the whole “religious=rightwing” meme for the secularists, and the “environmentalism=pagan lefties” meme for the more bigoted fundamentalists.

    I think some of the talk at the recent Wiscon, especially at the “Where is the Religious Left?” panel, would make the haters’ heads explode!

  • Hmmm…using that logic, God woudn’t let bad things happen to people at all. But, I’m confused – does anyone remember the Holocoust? Katrina? Darfur? The black plague? Hiroshima? Aids? Why did God let these things happen? I can go on but I think I’ve made my point. These were certainly evil, horrible events in human history. These religious right people are not only crazy, they are very, very, dangerous. Wake up America!!

  • God nuked Sodom and Gemorrah, allowed the Holocaust to Occur, stood idly by during the crusades and the Black Plague, doesn’t intervene to stop earthquakes, typhoons, hurricanes, floods, etc…. burning the earth is no great shakes for a being who would do these things and allow other tragedies to occur.

  • Well, it looks like there is a market for my bumpersticker: Lord, Protect Me From Your Followers.
    Obviously, the Christian Right is neither and is not the monolithic movement that everyone seems to think.

  • There is no god, only life.There is no truth, only human opinion, The human virus is programmed to destroy its host, but fortunately the host will destroy him and life in its various eternal forms will continue.- believe nothing and be truly be free.

  • So, at what point in the process of the Earth’s climate becoming less hospitable for human existance will the right-wing stops groping for oil dollars?

    There will be a time when all the money in the world can’t provide you with air, water and food.

    It’s as fruitless as the idiots who were trying to steal TV’s after Katrina. What good does the wealth do you when the only things of value are food, clothing and shelter?

    But, these people continue to use their current wealth and power to destroy the future for the rest of us. At the very least, we need to vote out all of the current corruption while we have a chance.

    WJ

  • The nation’s largest Roman Catholic archdiocese will sell its administrative headquarters to raise money to settle hundreds of sexual abuse lawsuits against it, Cardinal Roger Mahony said Tuesday.
    In a statement posted on the archdiocese of Los Angeles’s Web site, Mahony also said a special working group has identified about 50 nonessential church properties that could be sold. Those properties are not being used by any parishes, and no schools, parishes, or ministries would be shut down, he said.
    The cardinal did not specify how much the archdiocese expected to raise by selling the properties. He also did not give a timetable for settlement but said he hoped the cases could be resolved in the ”near future.” Archdiocese spokesman Tod Tamberg declined to comment beyond Mahony’s statement.
    The archdiocese, which estimates it has 4.3 million Catholics, faces more than 500 claims that have been in litigation for more than four years. Some plaintiffs’ attorneys and church observers have estimated it could cost the church up to $1 billion to settle all the claims against it.
    John Manly, a plaintiff’s attorney, said he saw no indication that the archdiocese was coming close to a settlement. He said the first cases are set to go to trial next month and he expected they would still do so. (AP)

  • i’m going to have to go with what the last person said. If God so minded to then he could step in but the question is? Do we as the human race, deserve his mercy? what are we doing to praise God so that he might step in? I just don’t know but God is real and he can do what he wants to do.

  • Better check your facts treasureisland.

    You say…”no schools, parishes, or ministries would be shut down”. You are incorrect. What Mahony has said is that no PARISH schools etc would be shut down. Daniel Murphy High School of Los Angeles is a non-parish, Archdiocesan school which he intends to shut down. A number of articles are available in California Catholic Daily, LA Times, etc.

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