Did you ever read the book of Genesis? (1:28-30) The first chapter makes it clear that God created the earth and gave it to humans to nurture and care for. We have the ability to receive everything we need from the earth without destroying it, as human beings did for thousands of years before us.
Once again, we hear “thoughts and prayers” as a chant for the victims of an unimaginable tragedy in California. I am a praying person, but thoughts and prayers will not change what has happened and what will continue to happen as we destroy the planet we live on.
Yet as a country we have just elected an entire administration of climate change deniers, of “drill, baby drill” enthusiasts. That is where our power was—in our voting—not in praying after the fact. The intention is to get rid of every regulation on fossil fuels, to repeal every climate law, to overturn every bit of progress on global agreements to save the earth in favor of greed and material wealth with no regard for the future of our children and grandchildren.
Your prayers also won’t take assault weapons from the hands of anyone—-your votes might have. Ask a parent who has lost a child so someone else has a second amendment right, or person who has lost everything in a fire if your thoughts and prayers mean anything to them now.
