On Sunday, June 13, 2010 at 12:20 pm former governor of Alaska and vice presidential hopeful, Sarah Palin, posted a note to her Facebook page titled “Fuel America with Terrorist-Tarred Oil Instead of Drilling Our Own, Baby?” This argument for ending America’s reliance on foreign energy concludes with her belief that Americans must “...responsibly develop our God-given domestic oil and gas reserves right here, right now.”
Does Sarah Palin truly believe the natural resources on Earth are the product of divine intervention? Do her supporters share these beliefs? How does this point of view affect American environmental policy?
When Mrs. Palin refers to America’s “God given” natural resources or “God’s will” for completion of the Alaska natural gas pipeline she is simply perpetuating the idea of manifest destiny and dominionism. In the 19th century manifest destiny was the belief that the North American continent was destined to be conquered by the United States (or more specifically Anglo-Saxon land owners). When Mrs. Palin claims that something on her political agenda is "God's will" she is hearkening back to this 200 year old idea, that it is America's destiny to own and control more and more resources. Dominionism is a way of thinking shared by some fundamentalist Christians that centers on the assumption that planet Earth was created by God and all of Earth's bounty was placed in mans control. Both of these ideologies can be traced back to the Christian Bible and one specific quote from Genesis 1:26,
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."
The literal interpretation of the Christian Bible has led thousands of Americans, including some politicians, to believe that the natural resources located within the United States were placed there by the Christian God for use by Americans to further American progress and prosperity. Dominionism has also urged many fundamentalist Christians into politics where they attempt to “influence secular institutions so that the country is ultimately governed by a conservative Christian interpretation of biblical law—to build a Christian nation.”
According to an ABC news poll eighty-three percent of Americans call themselves Christian and thirty-seven percent of these Christians describe themselves as fundamentalist or evangelical. These are some of the people who share Mrs. Palin’s belief in dominionism and manifest destiny.
This ideology may have significant impacts on the effectiveness of American environmental policy. How can we adequately protect our nations natural resources if a large portion of the voting public (and some politicians) believe the end is nigh?
I think that it's ridiculous that people use the idea of god to provide excuses for exploiting our natural resources and not living sustainable lives. There are, of course, many people who both believe in God and follow sustainable lifestyles; but for those who don't, there needs to be more education about it. Priests and pastors need to begin educating church-goers, bible study groups for kids need to incorporate fun ways to learn about doing their part to help keep the environment clean, and mission trips need to be established to educate teens about efforts to be proactive towards "saving the planet".
ReplyDeleteI am extremely tolerant of religion, but think that there needs to be a change to incorporate sustainable environmental education in religion.
Environmental education and interpretation can go a long way towards a finer understanding of planet Earth and it’s natural resources, but I am afraid this will not be enough.
ReplyDeleteIf it is the goal of Dominionists to “influence secular institutions so that the country is ultimately governed by a conservative Christian interpretation of biblical law—to build a Christian nation…”, then our nation’s environmental policies are in danger. Regardless of improved environmental education within the some churches, dominionism will continue to influence our government’s agenda and policies.
To achieve completely scientific and unbiased environmental policy our government must be rid of the religious extremists. This may be as Thomas Jefferson suggested two hundred years ago, by “building a wall of separation between Church and State.”
I grew up as a Catholic and attended private Catholic school. As a senior, in high school, I took AP environmental science and it was the first time I ever learned about environmental issues. Senior year of high school, seems to me now, to be very late to learn about environmental issues. If I never took that course, I would still be living an unsustainable lifestyle, as I did growing up. The lack of environmental awareness in the Catholic Church has caused me to be weary. My neighborhood church was built after clear-cutting several acres of land. Many churches of America resemble big-box stores, large plots of land with one big building and the rest is blacktop for parking. I have not seen any recycling bins in my church, nor were there any in my high school. It seems to me that the Catholic church is concerned with 'saving mankind' versus 'saving the planet that supports mankind'. I am not trying to condemn the Catholic church, because I am still a firm believer. Rather, I am merely stating that I am discouraged for its lack of environmental concern. If only environmental awareness could be incorporated to bible studies. I grew up with the mentality that good actions will reward me with God-given grace. Simple actions, such as recycling, could be integrated into bible studies, as a good action to condition children to attain God-given grace. I wonder if the Vatican has recycling programs?
ReplyDeleteLastly, I don't think our government should be rid of religious extremists. We live in a democracy, so I think we just need more people, across the scale, with different perspectives in office, to counterbalance the religious extremists.