NPR, Religion and Politics

Last week I was listening to NPR as I am often wont to do. This particular hour they were broadcasting a call-in show discussing religion and politics in America. The guests were one gentlemen from the Christian Coalition and two gentlemen from more liberal churches.

I should never listen to stuff like that. It always end up mad at everyone. I'll start today with the Christian Coalition guy.

Of course, since it was NPR, the Christian Coalition guy was getting skewered by callers. I give him a B+ for his handling of the inevitable gay marriage questions, he wasn't too obnoxious and made a decent argument.

But his response to questions about the environment showed why 30-somethings and 20-somethings are less and less inclined to identify with the Christian Coalition folks, even if they share the Christian part. His response was all empty rhetoric: "We're in favor of the environment but not at the expense of people, which is how some environmentalists talk."

This is completely bogus. What he did with the issue is create a false dichotomy, as if the only options were to be in favor of people or in favor of the environment. While it may be true that some environmentalists go to this extreme, it is clearly not the case that all wise environmental decisions come at the expense of taking care of people.

If anyone reading this blog has connections with these folks, please pass along my little word of advice: if you don't want to become extinct in the next 10 years, please stop selling out to the big businesses that pay most of your salaries and take a look at what Scripture has to say about our relationship with nature. Or if that's not compelling enough, how about acting in your own self-interest? In just about every poll of 20- and 30-somethings, environmental concerns are in the top 5 issues that voters care about.

My friend and former colleague Nate Clarke once gave a phenomenal talk where he contrasted the Biblical command of having dominion and taking care of the garden with the current state of affairs of dominance and consumption. Dominion and care looks very different from dominance and consumption, and until the Christian Coalition and the "religious right" in general wakes up to the necessity of Godly stewardship of the environment, tons of folks like me will continue to be wary of their leadership and their motives.