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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: 2) by VLM on Monday February 26 2018, @04:47PM (8 children)

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Monday February 26 2018, @04:47PM (#644012)

    Some I won't contest but the numbers are still lower; order of magnitude lower. Many in your list are apolitical. The remainder are mostly civil wars and those are historically bloody regardless of politics because they often turn, if not racial, into regional battles.

    The Armenian Genocide, Japan's invasion of China, The Rwandan genocide, the Balkans Wars of the 1990's

    Come on man, racial to the core. No way possible those were going to be called off if the victims had merely elected the "correct" political people to office.

    The US actions in southeast Asia which routinely attacked civilian targets in neutral countries like Laos and Cambodia

    Curious interpretation of "civilian" and "neutral". For that matter, again, if some politician on the other side of the world or hundreds of miles away switched sides, its not like the bombing raids would have been called off on the logistics trails purely for political reasons. You locally and actively participate in an enemies military logistics system, you kinda have to expect some incoming rounds, regardless of which side of the aisle both sides far away politicians may or may not sit.

    I think your list of right wing atrocities is entirely actually motivated solely by race war or civil war and it was a mere coin flip as to dear leader being right or left at that time. Surely there must be some right wing govt other than uncle adolfs who did something really really bad once for purely political reasons, but I'm having trouble thinking of one at this instant?

    I actually agree with your basic opinion with the minor addition that it doesn't matter if the genocide is hard core (dead today) or soft core (dead ASAP).

    Kissinger

    was hyperactive with a large standard deviation in his results. Lots of very good and very bad results. So its easy to find "right wing" stuff he screwed up, much as its easy to find "left wing" victories. He gets accused of a lot of "to form a right wing dictatorship you gotta break some eggs" by leftists with axe grinding hardware, but the guys total overall life was more like "when you enter an egg delivery truck in the Indy 500 you gotta break some eggs". Same dude did Paris peace accords, China, détente with the Soviets, the dude was like everywhere from the 60s to the 80s to some extent and level of influence. And in those decades yeah sure "everywhere" includes some interesting genocides and civil wars and race wars. Its like I can't apologize for the guy because there's nothing to apologize for; he was everywhere, and some places on earth are occasionally not vacation paradises, as the God Emperor himself recently observed, some countries are shitholes. Like seriously, if you're in power and a man about town, during the Bangladesh War it was impossible to do anything, including doing nothing at all, without looking terrible in the infinite monday morning quarterbacking. Vietnam as a long overarching multi decade event was kinda like that too. He's like sending in the Delta force or a SEAL team. One way or another things are going to turn out really good or really bad, but its not his fault someone decided to deploy him.

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Thexalon on Monday February 26 2018, @05:42PM (7 children)

    by Thexalon (636) on Monday February 26 2018, @05:42PM (#644044)

    Come on man, racial to the core.

    Racism is a right-wing idea. That's why people like Richard Spencer don't describe themselves as "alt-left". Hence why I described those genocidal attempts, explicitly justified by racist ideology by leaders who self-identified as conservative or right-wing, as right-wing.

    And if you don't think Kissinger doesn't have anything to apologize for, then it's pretty clear you don't mind a little genocide as long as it's the people who are dying aren't on whatever side you've decided is yours. And if your reference to the American president as "God Emperor" is meant as anything other than jest, then I'd say you're basically exactly the sort of person Il Duce would have been happy to have on board.

    --
    The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday February 26 2018, @06:38PM (2 children)

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday February 26 2018, @06:38PM (#644076) Journal

      Racism is a right-wing idea.

      Does make you wonder how many left-wings are actually right-wings in disguise. Racism seems very common across what we think of as the political spectrum.

      That's why people like Richard Spencer don't describe themselves as "alt-left".

      It might not be the best idea ever to delegate the definition of racism to Richard Spencer.

      And if your reference to the American president as "God Emperor" is meant as anything other than jest

      Woosh. Even I saw that one.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 26 2018, @10:10PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 26 2018, @10:10PM (#644245)

        1. You're a moron trying to equate movements for racial justice with racism. Yes there are a ridiculously small number of liberals who have embraced hatred but that is not the same as racism and is statistically insignificant anyway. Sorry bub, false equivalence for the looooose.

        2. No one delegated you're just being stupid again.

        3. So it was in jest? You mean the whole "And if..." was pointless? Failed reading comprehension for the looooose!

        Khallow everybody! Don't forget to pick up your crosses and gasoline on the way out!

        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday February 27 2018, @02:09AM

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday February 27 2018, @02:09AM (#644389) Journal

          You're a moron trying to equate movements for racial justice with racism. Yes there are a ridiculously small number of liberals who have embraced hatred but that is not the same as racism and is statistically insignificant anyway. Sorry bub, false equivalence for the looooose.

          What does "racial justice" mean? For example, the ACLU says [aclunc.org]:

          The ACLU works to stop discrimination based on race and ethnicity and to ensure equal opportunities for communities of color. We fight racial bias and advance civil rights.

          I have no problem with that. But when people assume that you're enjoying "privilege" merely because you're part of a particular ethic group, demand reparations from people of particular ethnicities for wicked deeds that were committed by long dead people, or simply excising a double standard and excuse some racism based on the ethnicity of the believer, they aren't engaging in racial justice. All those behaviors are often exhibited on the left-leaning side (in particular, concepts like "check your privilege", "microaggressions", and the myth of the helpless disadvantaged).

          You mean the whole "And if..." was pointless?

          Yes.

    • (Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday February 27 2018, @01:56PM (3 children)

      by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday February 27 2018, @01:56PM (#644607)

      Racism is a right-wing idea.

      Let me guess, races don't exist?

      • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday February 28 2018, @10:33PM (2 children)

        by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Wednesday February 28 2018, @10:33PM (#645448) Journal

        Haplogroups and such do exist. This has implications for diet, medicine, and so forth.

        The races as most people think of them, though, don't. And don't think I and everyone else with at least half a brain doesn't see what you're trying to do here, you disingenuous little shit. Peddle your divisive nonsense elsewhere. And remember: the elite won't let you into their club no matter how much water you carry for them.

        --
        I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
        • (Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday February 28 2018, @11:03PM (1 child)

          by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday February 28 2018, @11:03PM (#645472)

          The races as most people think of them, though, don't.

          Oh, please, enlighten us. This should be good...

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 01 2018, @02:54AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 01 2018, @02:54AM (#645581)

            > Oh, please, enlighten us. This should be good...

            It is correct. There is no genetic basis supporting claims for the existence of race. See books like "Genes, Peoples, and Languages" by Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza or his other works for a starting point if it is interesting. He did real groundbreaking work in mapping the human genome and the geographical distribution of phenotypes and their frequency of occurence. The conclusion even back then when his first major work was complete was that there are no races. Subsequent work by him and others reinforces that. There are clusters where some subsets of phenotypes occur with higher frequency, but its not really possible to say there are races.

            https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/02/07/meet-cheddar-man-first-modern-britons-had-dark-skin-and-blue-eyes/ [washingtonpost.com]

            http://afritorial.com/black-people-with-blue-eyes/ [afritorial.com]

            Despite being no genetic basis for race, I might say there is a psychological basis but there I think that crosses fully over into what we'd call culture with language as a subset.