Note to Santorum: Environmentalism isn't a "phony theology"

Jonathan Merritt—a Southern Baptist minister and author of “Green Like God: Unlocking the Divine Plan for Our Planet”—told me of Santorum’s remarks, “It is a typical culture war tactic: marginalize a movement by highlighting the extremists [who] exist on the fringe. The vast majority of [environmentalists] just want to preserve the good world we live in for our children and grandchildren. Among those are a vibrant and growing number of Christians who value God’s good creation and hold the environmental views of figures like St. Francis, Martin Luther and Billy Graham.”

Perhaps it’s really Senator Santorum who hews to a “phony theology” at odds with the Bible. Santorum, who has been a shameless apologist for polluters, appears to worship at the altar of business and free enterprise no matter the cost to the health of Americans—including unborn Americans…

Matthew Sleeth, MD, the head of the evangelical educational ministry, Blessed Earth, summarized what he sees as the biblical view of the environment. “I believe if we don’t do something we won’t have a planet in 100 years. Having spent a lot of time in conservative churches, one of the first questions I get is about dominion. The way I explain it is, God gave us great power. When we extinct a species, we have not exercised stewardship. The first commandment in the Bible is Genesis 2:15: to protect and care for the garden. Nowhere in the Bible does it say ‘trash it, burn it up, throw it away.’ There is a comprehensive message that we are here to care for the earth.”