February 11, 2005 — With the Kyoto Protocol set to go into effect without U.S. support, and on the same day the Clear Skies Initiative is scheduled for markup in Congress, religious leaders around the country are joining with their brothers and sisters to tell the Bush administration and members of Congress that the only "mandate" that matters is God’s.
In their statement, more than 1000 religious leaders expressed great dismay and alarm at the administration’s erosion of protection for God’s creation. The religious leaders cited as troublesome the Bush administration’s and Congressional leaders’ refusal to take action on global climate change, their plans to weaken the Endangered Species Act, and the potential for the Clear Skies initiative to actually increase dangerous pollutants if passed. Addressing the administration’s claims to a mandate to push through their agenda, the statement says, "there was no mandate, no majority, or no ‘values’ message in this past election for the President or the Congress to roll back and oppose programs that care for God’s Creation."
Tim Kautza, science and environmental education specialist of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference, said that while the majority of religious Americans voted for President Bush, that vote wasn’t a green light to pollute the air, accelerate species extinction and turn our backs on our responsibility to stop global warming. "We answer to a higher power, and want to remind all religious people, Republicans, Democrats and the White House, of our covenant with God to care for Creation," he said.
Catholic leaders comprised nearly a third of those supporting the statement, including Most Reverend Thomas Gumbleton, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit, 18 religious communities and congregations, 60 committees and ministries of religious communities, 15 justice-related diocesan offices, and more than 200 other individual Catholics from 37 states.
The letter, officially released and delivered to the White House on Friday, February 11, will be delivered to all Senators February 15th. On the following day, February 16th, congregants, pastors and rabbis will contact their senators and the White House as part of a National Day of Prayer and Action to remind them of our moral obligation to protect Creation. An education piece about the religious mandate will be sent to 250,000 clergy and congregational leaders and there will also be a prominent issue advertisement concerning climate change placed in Roll Cal and the Faithful America network.
This statement comes at the heels of a recent poll by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life showing a strong support on environmental protection among people of faith. The poll also found that in setting national priorities, 53 percent place the environment above other issues including abortion (46 percent) and same-sex marriage (33 percent).
"We may come from distinct faith perspectives, but we are united behind our belief that the only mandate that matters is God’s," said Kautza. "God is clear in the Bible that humans should protect Creation, including children and the elderly. Clear Skies in particular, challenges this principle by not protecting our children now from harmful mercury pollution. And, we must protect future generations from the dangers of global warming."
Several passages in the Bible support this mandate: the Psalms outlines a paramount obligation to "defend the poor and the orphan" (Ps 82:3), while Genesis commands us to "till and tend the garden" (Gen 2:15) and states we have an obligation, in prudence and precaution, to sustain the future well-being of all life on Earth, God’s "covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature for perpetual generations." (Gen 9:12).
The National Catholic Rural Life Conference is a membership organization grounded in a spiritual tradition that brings together the Church, care of community and care of creation.