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posted by mrpg on Monday February 26 2018, @01:23PM   Printer-friendly
from the dinosaurs-are-oil dept.

In a recent interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, Scott Pruitt, EPA Chief, said that the Bible tells people to use all the resources available to us, including fossil fuels:
"The biblical world view with respect to these issues is that we have a responsibility to manage and cultivate, harvest the natural resources that we've been blessed with to truly bless our fellow mankind".

According to Vox: "But as far as his biblical assertion goes, Pruitt's words reflect a wider trend among American evangelicals, who largely have not embraced scientific thought on environmentalism or global warming."

The Trump administration has used a variety of excuses to legitimize its record-setting rollbacks on environmental protections: calling global warming a hoax, or arguing that the economic consequences of increased regulation would outweigh their benefit.

The latest justification? The Bible.

In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, a media outlet that also seems to double as a propaganda arm of the Trump administration, Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt said his Christian convictions led him to conclude that America should use gas and coal freely because natural resources exist purely for man's benefit.

[...] That's why evangelical groups have, therefore, been historically resistant to environmentalist causes. Creationist lobbying groups frequently fund initiatives like the Louisiana Science Education Act, which mandates a "balanced" (and climate change-denying) approach to teaching environmental issues in public schools.

Please read the linked article as it explains the connection between contempt for science and protecting the environment and the beliefs of evangelicals.


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  • (Score: 0, Troll) by VLM on Monday February 26 2018, @04:07PM (3 children)

    by VLM (445) on Monday February 26 2018, @04:07PM (#643986)

    There is a symmetry in that leftist/progressive/marxist thinking works the same way with their masses.

    Its really opposite sides of the same coin.

    As a general rule across political boundaries, even across civilizations, all functionally illiterate populations naturally evolve a charismatic leader to middle-man the mass illiteracy into personal power.

    The original alchemy, turning lead into gold. Nobody is immune. Makes you wonder about the implementation of Hammurabi's code, maybe the weird implementation was a hack to make themselves immune. They were fairly successful, for awhile.

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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Grishnakh on Monday February 26 2018, @04:16PM (1 child)

    by Grishnakh (2831) on Monday February 26 2018, @04:16PM (#643992)

    There is a symmetry in that leftist/progressive/marxist thinking works the same way with their masses.

    Not really: there's no "holy book" here, just whatever line of thinking is currently popular. That can change, and it's open for debate, so over time it does change. With religion, you're always stuck with that holy book which never really changes, so the only change comes through changing interpretations.

    • (Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday February 27 2018, @01:53PM

      by VLM (445) on Tuesday February 27 2018, @01:53PM (#644606)

      there's no "holy book"

      An Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis of Global Warming

      A People's History of the United States

      With religion, you're always stuck with that holy book which never really changes

      Yeah about that... As a trivial example a few edits here and a few there and suddenly priests are no longer allowed to marry. Or papal infallibility which was kinda a coup against the college of cardinals.

      Not seeing it as different as you'd think...

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 27 2018, @06:17AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 27 2018, @06:17AM (#644511)

    If you want some kind of analogy, try neocon economists and Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations.