"My faith is not in climate change”: Minnesota GOP lawmaker doubles down on denial
Minnesota Rep. Mary Franson dismissed scientists’ warnings because her Christian faith taught her the crisis is irrelevant
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During a House Capital Investment Committee hearing on Tuesday, a Republican lawmaker argued that Minnesotans didn’t need to worry about the impact of climate change because the Bible taught her it’s irrelevant.
Minnesota State Rep. Mary Franson has been in office since 2011 and she’s carved out a niche as one of the least thoughtful members of the legislature, pushing anti-abortion bills, getting angry when the House Chaplain delivered an invocation mentioning Earth Day (which she also called a “Pagan holiday”), trashing transgender people, and comparing survivors of a mass shooting to Hitler Youth.
The hearing on Tuesday featured researchers from the University of Minnesota discussing a report (which the committee asked them to produce) on “how Minnesota can better prepare its infrastructure for a changing climate.” It was experts speaking to policy makers—the sort of exchange you hope to see in a functioning government. It’s also a matter of urgency. Just last week, Minnesota’s Pollution Control Agency issued a report saying that failure to adapt to climate change could cost the state up to $57 billion a year by the end of the century.
After they finished their presentation, Franson, the co-chair of the committee, effectively said she didn’t give a shit what the researchers said about the effects of climate change because, as a Christian, she believed the whole thing was a hoax.
… Members, the climate is always changing, and 10,000 years ago, there were glaciers covering the state. And, uh, if you don’t know what a glacier is, it’s a big block of ice. Lot of ice, right? Well, they’re not here in this state anymore. I mean, up by Rep. [Roger] Skraba, there’s a park that talks about the glaciers that were up in… Itasca County.
But what doesn’t change, my friends, and that’s why, when you talk about climate change, I don’t get upset about it, I don’t get worked up about it, it’s because my faith is not in climate change. It’s not in scientists dictating what we should and should not do to save the environment. Because my faith is in Jesus Christ, right? He’s the same today, tomorrow, and forever. Yesterday. And so, um, you know, if you’ve read the Good Book, you know how it ends. It’s not with climate change.
That’s my closing speech.
Somehow that was less controversial than when she said in 2024 that climate change “is a scam pushed by commies.”
Because that was at the end of the hearing, there wasn’t much of a response in the moment, but House DFL Floor Leader Jamie Long condemned the remarks in a press release:
Rep. Franson’s extreme remarks have no place in any arena of serious policymaking. Minnesotans believe in science and are concerned about the scientific consensus that climate change is causing real harm to our state. Scientists aren’t concerned about climate change because the world is ending; they are concerned about the quality of life for people living on our planet now and in the future.
Rains are becoming more intense, temperatures are rising year-over-year, and the weather is becoming more unpredictable, with conditions changing frequently between wet and dry extremes. Anyone with eyes can see these trends, and our infrastructure can’t always handle these conditions.
As legislators, we have a responsibility to future generations of Minnesotans, and that includes ensuring our roads, bridges, water infrastructure, and public buildings – not to mention habitats, waterways, and forests – are all resistant to extreme weather events. For a co-chair of the committee charged with making these critical investments to turn a blind eye to this reality, and undermine the critical planning necessary to protect our infrastructure, is deeply concerning.
Minnesota is lucky to have lawmakers like Long who care about evidence and expertise given that Republicans are determined to ignore all that collected wisdom in favor of their brand of mythology.
It’s especially frustrating that Franson had these researchers right in front of her but didn’t even bother asking them about their area of expertise. Her ignorance might be forgiven if she used opportunities like these to gain wisdom. Instead, she was convinced she knew more about climate than the people who have dedicated their careers to understanding the subject. It’s that kind of right-wing hubris that is destroying this country.
Dr. Michael Mann, a climate scientist, responded to Franson by sarcastically noting, “Nuclear warheads aren't in the bible either. Guess we're all safe.”
While you would expect right-wing pastors to dismiss science, it’s truly disturbing when the very people who have the power to address the impact of climate change are among those spreading lies about it.
Like when West Virginia Governor Jim Justice said in 2022, while promoting more drilling for oil, “If there is such a thing—and I underline if—if there is such a thing as climate change, I believe that [God] will give us time, and the smart people will fix it.”
Or when former Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann said in 2019 that climate change was nothing to worry about because God promised everyone that, after Noah’s flood, he’d never drown the world again.
"You can take it to the bank, that's God's word," she added. "And what is it these frauds tells us with climate change? That the world's going to be flooded. Isn't it interesting they're saying it's going to be another catastrophe, it's flooding, we're going to be flooded? God says we will never be flooded."
Or when former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders dismissed warnings about the impending climate disaster because that was a matter “we're gonna leave in the hands of a much, much higher authority.”
Or how about 2015 when former Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe infamously brought a snowball to the floor of the Senate as a way to refute the notion of global warming?
Inhofe was a climate denier who lamented: “The arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what [God] is doing in the climate is to me outrageous.”
There are countless other examples like this, but the point is that climate change is irrefutable, yet Christianity has prevented some of the most powerful people in the country from doing a damn thing about it because their dogma overrides all the facts.
To go back to Justice for a moment, tou have to wonder, what good are prayers for more time if Republicans are going to ignore the solutions when they’re finally handed to them?
Different Christians might argue that God gave us the power to recognize the impact of oil drilling and fossil fuels before it’s too late… but these conservatives don’t care.
The Party of Personal Responsibility never wants to clean up its own messes.
The Party of God never seems to hear the word “No” when it might get in the way of something it wants to do.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in 2019 that she didn’t care about what Democrats were saying about the future of civilization because “We're focused on what's happening in the world right now.” But the climate is changing right now. Just because it’s not as obvious as a bomb bursting in front of you doesn’t mean it’s not occurring.
It’s the same argument Creationists love to make when they say they never saw one species give birth to another. Evolution is happening even if it’s not taking place instantaneously right in front of your eyes. Our climate is changing much the same way.
Unfortunately, we have too many government officials who give more deference to religion than science. And because too many Americans are ignorant enough to keep voting for Republicans, this won’t be addressed at the federal level anytime soon. All the more reason for state officials to take charge while they can.
That starts by dismissing and condemning the right-wing Christian conspiracy theorists who would rather close their eyes than see the disaster unfolding right in front of them.
By the standards of the modern world, the people who wrote the Bible didn’t know much of anything. I will never understand why people put so much faith in ancient myths that have nothing to support them other than their appearance in a magic book. You would think if the Bible is really the word of God, then the discoveries of science would be confirming the Bible not contradicting it. No discovery of science ever pointed to the truth of any religious doctrine.
𝐼𝑡’𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑑𝑜 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑣𝑖𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡. 𝐵𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑚𝑦 𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡, 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡? 𝐻𝑒’𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦, 𝑡𝑜𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑤, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟. 𝑌𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑑𝑎𝑦. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑜, 𝑢𝑚, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤, 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢’𝑣𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝐵𝑜𝑜𝑘, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑡 𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑠. 𝐼𝑡’𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑐𝑙𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒.
Hey Franson:
If it isn't scientists telling us what we should do to save the environment, then who should we be listening to to save the environment? The rest of your statement suggests that you believe we should do nothing to save the environment, and just continue trashing it because you are expecting the world to end before any climate issues inconvenience you in any substantial way.
People who are actively rooting for the end of the world should not be allowed to govern the majority who do not wish for the world to end.