Both parties don't "do it!"

“Both parties do it” is shorthand for, “I’m not willing to do my own thinking.” It’s just easier to blame everybody rather than dig into the facts and take the time to think critically.

Even brief reflection and study will lead to the conclusion that there is a considerable difference between what the two parties do and believe. One party embraces diversity, encourages tolerance, demystifies capitalism, and accepts science. The other doesn’t.

US Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) hit the trifecta when asked about his favorite scripture. “My favorite is Genesis 8:22 which is ‘as long as the earth remains there will be seed time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night,’ you know, God’s still up there. There’s another which I should’ve mentioned, the smartest thing the activists did is try to get the evangelicals on their side, so they hired a guy named Cizik. He’s been exposed to be the liberal that he is. The other scripture I use quite frequently on this subject is Romans 1:25, ‘They give up the truth about God for a lie and they worship God’s creation instead of God, who will be praised forever.’ In other words, they are trying to say we should worship the creation.”

Relying on Genesis 8:22 (Noah and the flood) to reject climate change science, allows Inhofe and other deniers to take money from coal companies and do their bidding by abusing scripture as the basis for intolerance of those who think differently.

Senator Inhofe cast in stone the difference between the two parties. Republicans conflate literal interpretation of scripture with disdain for science and a willingness to displace social and environmental justice with an “Ayn Rand” view of our responsibilities to the “least of these.”

The “Cizik” Inhofe called (oh no, not that!) a liberal is former vice -president for governmental affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals.Richard  Cizik is a “Reagan conservative” and a strong supporter of George W. Bush. Cizik was the evangelical’s key advocate on issues like opposition to abortion and gay marriage. So why does Inhofe cast Cizik into purgatory as a “liberal”? Because Cizik has done what most republicans refuse to do. His heresy is to accept that the Bible is not a science. Cizik acknowledged that while life may start at conception, it doesn’t end at birth.

 Ciziks’ heresy, in the view of many Republicans is this statement. “There is a debate going on within evangelical circles as to what is the highest priority.  Is it to care for human life, unborn human life, first? It is to care about the poor? And how much place should we give Creation Care, concern for environmentalism? I believe the inevitable conclusion will be that all the issues are important and they’re inter-related.  For example, mercury pollution from coal burning utility plants in the US falls from the atmosphere into our rivers and is consumed by fish.  This in turn impacts our children, because now one out of six women in America has unduly high levels of mercury in their systems, impacting unborn children.  It’s a “sanctity of human life issue.”  When evangelical Christians make the connection between the call to protect the innocent, the unborn, and the call to be stewards of the world that God has created, when they make the connection between the two, there will be no hesitation to speak out on environmental concerns.”

Deuteronomy 29:29 says, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things belong to us and to our children forever, to observe all the words of this law.” Science has revealed some of the secrets unrevealed to those who lived 6000 years ago.

The difference between the two parties is that one believes a literal interpretation of scripture serves the interests of its contributors. The other party believes “the revealed things belong to us and to our children forever” and we have a responsibility to apply the revelations to contemporary life on the planet.