I was reading in my Sage RSS reader and noticed an article in Grist’s Muckracker pages about senate races environmentalists should pay attention to. You can find it here. Reading through this led me to a point of contention I’ve had with our leaders, but especially with the advent of the Bush administration.
Today, I take aim at one of our political leaders violently misusing the Word of God and foundation of my life: Rick Santorum. Check out an account of a 1994 quote from a political rally in which he was participating:
“Nowhere in the Bible does it say that America will be here 100 years from now”
–Rick Santorum
Now can someone, Christian or not, religious or not, please tell me what has gotten into us? Why is it that we as Americans feel we have the unbridled right to run roughshod over the inheritance of our children, grandchildren, fellow world citizens, and future generations?
Now, as a Christian, it may be true that nowhere in the Bible does it say that America will be here for 100 years from now. How does it strike a Christian that God, who says that even the grass of the fields are clothed more majestically than King Solomon in all of his glory–that he might be pleased with our violent mismanagement of his creation.
If creation is one of God’s expressions of his personality, creative power, and grace, what is it in the Bible that allows us the liberty to desecrate his gift of love to us?
I think that we as Christians–especially American Christians–have a lot of self-examination to do. It is no wonder that Jesus said “men would curse me on account of you.” Our environmental mismanagement is just one stumbling block for those who hear the Word of God and look to us as the body of Christ on earth.
Now, I will not say that the planet will last forever: all of us know that this is not true. I will say, though, that we reap what we sow. We all, Christians or not, must understand that we cannot escape the consequences of our selfishness and neglect…