Environmental Stewardship

Monday I watched a portion of a John McCain speech from Portland, Oregon in which the Republican presidential candidate addressed the issue of global warming and stressed the importance of good stewardship over our natural resources.

It took me back to a speech I attended at a local high school in 1992 given by vice-presidential candidate Al Gore. In his speech, Gore joked about how he’d been dubbed “Ozone Man” because of his concern about changes in the earth’s atmosphere.

Gore then went on to attribute his concern about the environment to the Book of Genesis, specifically the verse Genesis 1:26, which says:

"Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.'"

Whether or not McCain attributes his stewardship to biblical teaching wasn’t clear from what I heard of his speech. But it’s likely this verse that’s influenced a number of liberal and moderate Christian leaders to promote global warming as a Christian concern.

How ironic that the Christian group who claims to take the Creation story most literally--Christian fundamentalists--is the same group who believes mankind shouldn’t concern themselves about preserving that creation.

In part, this comes down to the other end of the Bible: The Book of Revelations. Fundamentalist Christians are more likely than other Christians to believe the world is about to end, and warming of the earth’s environment isn’t as much of an issue as the overheated environment in hell.

It also comes down to how one interprets the word "rule." Gore interprets this as a responsibility. 

Whether you’re a “tree hugger” or not, the way someone interprets the concept of ruling is important, because it’s a reflection of their perception of responsible government. A government that runs roughshod over nature will do the same to people.

McCain’s environmental beliefs may or may not be biblically based. But it’s clear he wants to distance himself from the irresponsible approach of the current administration.