Pope Francis takes down GOP talking points on climate change!
By Thom Hartmann A...
Pope Francis doesn't take his cues from Rick Santorum.
Not only did the Pontiff flat-out ignore the 2016 Republican hopeful's comments about leaving climate change to the scientists, the Holy Father just obliterated Republican talking points on the climate.
Those comments came directly from a copy of Pope Francis' latest encyclical on the environment, which addresses the claim that God gave us “dominion” over the Earth to exploit however we'd like. The document refutes that claim, which is often touted by Conservatives.
The Pope wrote, “it has been said that, from the story of Genesis, which invites us to subjugate the earth, the savage exploitation of nature would be encouraged, presenting the image of human beings as ruler and destroyer.” In no uncertain terms, he added, “This is not the correct interpretation of the Bible as intended by the Church.”
Just like the various other Christian groups who have called for action on climate change, Pope Francis says that every community has the duty to protect our planet and “ensure the continuity of its fertility for future generations.”
So, while the Republican party continues to shill for the fossil fuel industry, they can't continue to claim that it's what God wanted for us and our planet.
Whether you prefer to listen to scientists or religious leaders – or the Pope, who happens to be both – the message is the same when it comes to our climate crisis. We don't have much more time to prevent the worst-case climate scenarios, and we should be doing everything we can to make the switch to clean energy.
We only have one planet to call home, so let's listen to anyone and everyone who honestly wants to protect it.
Comments
#2
Actually, the Biblical verse that Pope Francis is referring to reads thusly:
Quote The Book Of Genesis: Chapter 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
What conservatives fail to notice is the phrase in this verse that reads... "and replenish the earth." The main problem here is that there is much less profit in replenishing and much more profit in plundering. The Pope is spot on with this one!
#3
Dan -- Bravo!
Of course, we are not a theocracy, so who cares? Of course, way too many people care
#4
It's not just conservative so-called "Bible Christian" Protestants who engage in "cherry picking" Scripture to "prove their (talking) points." Take it from a Catholic blogger who's seen how the Cafeteria Catholics (from both liberal and especially of late importance, conservative ranks) the latter are proving themselves to be just as much a nuisance to their Church's attempts to get its message out as Pax Christi had been in the past. Only the conservative cherry-picking cafeteria Catholics have made it known they only care to pick their cherries from the most select orchards and speak only to their already converted believers in the age old nonsense that if an idea, any idea is good for business, it's good for America and good for the world. They've got a long way to go. A real long road. When the bigshots of Home Depot are singing the same hymns of the Koch Brothers (who supply HD'S and many other hardware/lumber stores, big and small) it's time to start singing other hyms from the other side.
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The old spirituality of religious belief has encouraged us to have dominion over the Earth ,they have interpreted this as to mean domination so with this imagination ownership came into play .ownership of people,places and stuff that we call assets or wealth .So from this understanding the more things you own the more power you have or were given and the wealthier you are .
This guiding principle has to be replaced with a new guiding principle one that works for the survival of life on Earth all people's and a sustainable future .I call it for the highest good of all !
We can move from an ownership society to a usership economy where people do not need to own all the stuff of life that we call good but can get use of it and have access to it .So we need to move from a possession and ownership model to a use and happiness model .
Share the bounty of the planet without trying to grow the economy so everyone has there own copy of everything but only uses the stuff a tiny % of the time .
We could reduce the economy ,that would be better for the Ecology less stuff to landfill and make things last much longer better build quality yeah more expensive to make but 10 times longer lasting and 10 times more people getting access to using the stuff .
Just my 2 cents worth .