Earth is a "Disposable Planet" to Christian Climate Deniers
Jesus, please take out your trash.
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A 150-year-old church in Iowa was burned beyond salvation after someone tried to smoke a rat out of the building using a flare-like device. The blaze persisted for hours because water had to be hauled in from the nearest hydrant, 4 miles away. No one was injured. As for the rat, we don’t know if he lived or died, but we do know his memory will live on in black metal history.
John MacArthur, the California pastor we frequently feature for saying harmful science-denying things, like “there’s no pandemic,” is the subject of criticism by scientist Paul Braterman.
In his article for The Conversation, Braterman highlights the dangers of MacArthur’s ignorant rhetoric by digging up one of his most stupefying climate change denial statements from 2008:
God intended us to use this planet, to fill this planet for the benefit of man. Never was it intended to be a permanent planet. It is a disposable planet. Christians ought to know that.
While it’s shocking to hear it outright stated, it’s not as if evangelicals like MacArthur were behaving contrary to this worldview. The planet is their toilet bowl and they’re shitting on all of us. It the end result of caring more about the afterlife than the present. In MacArthur’s statement, and many others like his, we’re reminded why we have to keep fighting against this faith-based ignorance. Their science denial isn’t confined to the pews— it’s putting us all in danger as passengers on their “disposable planet.”
Mayor Debra Lewis of Ashland, Wisconsin began a city council meeting by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, sans “Under God.” It went unmentioned at the meeting, and it’s hardly a noteworthy story to us, either.
But two weeks later, a letter was printed in the Ashland Daily Press by a citizen who couldn’t move on with his life after hearing the all-inclusive original version.
… when a public figure like the mayor portrays the recital of the pledge, which has been recited before a council meeting since the beginning of time, to be the actual pledge as written and then eliminates words because of her own personal beliefs then we have a major problem within her office and that problem is her! By her actions she purposely tried to have people, who actually agree with the words “one nation under God,” omit them to meet her standards of what she believe is right. This is not the city of Deb Lewis.
At the very least Lewis should have advised the people in attendance that she was going to eliminate “one nation under God” from her recital and then the people who had a problem with that elimination would not have followed her lead. I guess what Lewis believes in is what we all have to follow.
Had the writer taken a moment to read a Wikipedia page before writing his letter, he would have saved himself a whole lot of embarrassment.
One man who attended a 50-person church retreat in Michigan turned up positive for COVID and none of the attendees will cooperate with health workers’ attempts to contract trace.
After being hung up on and being accused of “working for satan,” the local health department was forced to issue a public statement about the potentially infected retreat attendees. Unfortunately, this virus doesn’t play by Darwin Award rules; those who will likely be affected by the actions and silence of these men will be the neighbors they claim to love.Someone on the internet is having a hard time understanding Christianity:
An Indian jewelry company is facing outrage and a boycott for a commercial they aired featuring an interfaith marriage between a Hindu woman and a Muslim man. Tanishq created the ad to market their “Ekatvam” collection, which is Sanskrit for “oneness,” but pulled the campaign and issued an apology after receiving often-bigoted backlash.
Character attacks on Donald Trump are off limits because his opponent kills babies, supports sexual perversions, and wants to burn down cities, according to MAGA pastor Shane Idleman.
Times like this I wish God had included “Thou shalt not bear false witness” in the Ten Commandments.
(What’s that? Oh. I see.)It’s frightening to realize the next Supreme Court justice couldn’t even recall the specifics of the First Amendment.
Amazing how she missed what was meant to be a gimme question from a conservative senator.Under questioning by Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE), Amy Coney Barrett is unable to name the five freedoms protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. https://t.co/U3KFm5FA97
The American Independent @AmerIndependentIt’s frightening to realize the next Supreme Court justice thinks the science behind climate change is up for debate.
It’s frightening to realize the next Supreme Court justice thinks sexual orientation is merely a “preference.”
Please read our guest post To the Woman Who Prayed for My Wife: An Atheist’s Reflection by Phil Zuckerman. Zuckerman tells his real-life account of a woman who approached him and his wife, who recently suffered a stroke, asking to pray for her health. In his letter to this anonymous woman, Zuckerman gnaws at the strange experience following their polite acceptance of her offer.
Zuckerman is a professor of sociology and secular studies at Pitzer College. His most recent book is What It Means to Be Moral: Why Religion Is Not Necessary for Living an Ethical Life.
