{"id":9337,"date":"2014-08-03T17:39:30","date_gmt":"2014-08-03T17:39:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/?p=9337"},"modified":"2014-08-03T17:41:03","modified_gmt":"2014-08-03T17:41:03","slug":"settled-science-god-the-epa-and-climate-change-regulation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/settled-science-god-the-epa-and-climate-change-regulation\/","title":{"rendered":"God, the EPA and Climate Change Regulation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Green-church.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Green-church-300x168.jpg\" alt=\"Green church\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-9339\" srcset=\"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Green-church-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Green-church.jpg 636w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/thinkprogress.org\/climate\/2014\/07\/31\/3466008\/epa-coal-rules-religious-leaders-support\/\">From Climate Progress<\/a>: <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 Speaking to three administrators for the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday, David Kepley, an elder and deacon at the Providence Presbyterian Church, quoted Leviticus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGod said \u2018the land is mine; with me you are but aliens and tenants,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201c\u2018Throughout the land that you hold, you shall provide for the redemption of the land.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To be wasteful of the land\u2019s bounty \u2026 is not just unproductive, but is an affront to God.<\/p>\n<p>The verses, Kepley said, allude to several themes. For one, God has encouraged us not just to draw sustenance from the land, but to replenish it \u2014 to act as stewards of Creation. For another, the verses compare humans to \u201crenters\u201d in God\u2019s house, meaning we can\u2019t just trash God\u2019s house with unmitigated pollution.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo me this means that to be wasteful of the land\u2019s bounty or to despoil it with substances that are harmful to people or other life forms is not just unproductive, but is an affront to God,\u201d Kepley said. \u201cIn my view, the EPA has identified one of those areas where we humans have ignored our role as good stewards of the Creation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kepley was just one of at least 28 religious leaders who urged the EPA at two D.C. hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday not to weaken \u2014 and at times to strengthen \u2014 its proposed regulations on carbon emissions from coal plants. The proposed rule represents the Obama Administration\u2019s most ambitious move yet to combat one of the main drivers behind climate change.<\/p>\n<p>\u2026On Tuesday and Wednesday, leaders from Presbyterian, Episcopal, Evangelical, Lutheran, Methodist, Quaker, and Baptist congregations spoke out in strong support of the rule, with most speakers calling it a moral obligation to God. Leaders from Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, and Baha\u2019i groups also testified in support of the rule.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Arguing for such rules on a scientific basis is fine, but this, well\u2026.<\/p>\n<p>Taxpayers will, of course, have funded this <del datetime=\"2014-08-03T17:18:34+00:00\">set of sermons<\/del> &#8216;hearing\u2019: Quite why escapes me. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From Climate Progress: WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 Speaking to three administrators for the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday, David Kepley, an elder and deacon at the Providence Presbyterian Church, quoted Leviticus. \u201cGod said \u2018the land is mine; with me you are &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/settled-science-god-the-epa-and-climate-change-regulation\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[746,15,711],"tags":[397,210,403],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9337"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9337"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9342,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9337\/revisions\/9342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}