Catholics and climate change

As I drive streets of my area and elsewhere, I often see cars sporting bumper stickers bearing the legend "I'm Catholic and I Vote," and I often wonder not so much about what the cars' owners mean but what they could mean, for the Catholic Church's teachings on disparate political issues can easily carrying very different political messages for voters in the world of American politics.

I sort of assume that for many such drivers, the statement is more than anything else a coded phrase on abortion and abortion rights, which would imply a vote for right-wing Republicans and/or anti-choice conservative Democrats. But it could just as easily signify support for social welfare or economic justice, or against capital punishment or aggressive war, for the Church's teachings on these topics are very clear, and definitely don't favor the electoral interests of those conservatives and right-wingers.

With that in mind I read with great interest recent comments by Pope Francis that "We are the Custodians of Creation," a point expanded upon by a Vatican statement* that
  
The perspective given by this spiritual gift leads us to respect God’s gift of creation and to exercise wise stewardship of its resources for the benefit of the whole human family.

A recent editorial in the National Catholic Reporter on climate change expands upon that point.

The problem is enormous, but so is the opportunity for the church to use its resources, its access to some of the best experts in its academies and the attention of those in its parochial structures to begin to educate. This is a human life issue of enormous proportions, and one in which the young should be fully engaged. 

Finding a fix for climate change and its potentially disastrous consequences, particularly for the global poor, is not the work of a single discipline or a single group or a single political strategy. Its solution lies as much in people of faith as in scientific data, as much or more in a love for God's creation as it does in our instinct for self-preservation.

I tend to look at public policy and environmental issues from a secular persepctive, but this line of reasoning is extremely apt. For better or for worse, we are the stewards of our planet, and the message for those of us who see a divine purpose in that stewardship, the message is very, very clear. 

If those bumper-sticker Catholic voters mean to say that they are "Pro-Life," there should no bigger issue than the stewardship of our planet. For them, or for anybody else. 

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*  Andrew C. Revkin, "Pope Francis: 'We are Custodians of Creation'," New York Times, May 22, 2014

Marco Rubio and faith-based denial

Sen Marco Rubio (R-Fla) came close enough to underhand his hat into the ring today, and in so doing took the expected potshots at Secretary Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama. 

But what is really striking is his strong assertion of the primacy of faith in determining environmental policy. “I do not believe that human activity is causing these dramatic changes to our climate the way these scientists are portraying it,” he said. 

"I do not believe."

What an inspiring approach for addressing a complex problem subject to empirical research; what a noble disdain for the scientific method.

"I do not believe."

Ignore the nearly unanimous voice of the scientific community finding that human activity is responsible for global climate change. Ignore the mountain of data and the flood of scientific papers supporting this understanding (see, for example, the 2011 repot of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the third National Climate Assessment of 2014.

It is enough that Sen. Rubio believes otherwise. And that he can do so without even giving lip service to any need to cite evidence refuting anthropogenic climate change,

Faith-based denial. Faith-based stupidity. Faith-based suicide.

And this is perhaps the best candidate the Republican Party can offer for the White House?

The special irony, of course, is that his state will be at the leading edge for testing the efficacy of establishing environmental policy on the basis of faith, and in the face of all evidence. I would say that it would take a miracle for him to retain the support of a Floridian majority ... except that I know his preference for faith over evidence is probably shared by a distressingly large chunk of Florida's electorate.