Global Warming, The Christian Right, and Big Oil
by Jim Moss
The Seminal

On May 15, a campaign was launched by the Christian Right called "We Get It."  Endorsed by notables such as James Dobson, Tom Coburn, James Inhofe, and Pat Boone, the campaign tries to convince us that it's a bad idea to fight global warming by trying to control carbon emissions.  They claim that such measures are based on "unproven" science and that they would make life much more difficult for the world's poor.

As I perused the "We Get It" website, I came across a list of supporting organizations.  I decided, just for fun, to see how long it would take for me to make a direct connect to a major oil company.  In less than three minutes, I had found two such connections:

1) One of the supporting groups is the Acton Institute, which receives regular donations from none other than ExxonMobil.

2) Another of the supporting groups is The Cornwall Alliance, which was founded by the Interfaith Stewardship Alliance, which also receives funding from none other than ExxonMobil.

With some actual time spent researching, I wonder how many of the other backers of "We Get It" have ties to Big Oil? 

For years, certain business interests have been spending a lot of time and money trying to debunk global warming concerns.  This seems to be a new angle, though - and a rather offensive one to this Presbyterian pastor who knows a thing or two about poverty and the environment.  Their claims are absurd, and to make them sound like mandates from God is blasphemy. 

Global warming, with its rising sea levels, changing precipation patterns, and potentially more violent storms, will have a much more negative effect on the world's poor people than any efforts to burn less fossil fuels ever could.  And as for the idea that people driving less and finding more renewable sources of energy will be worse for the poor - that's just laugable.  What do the folks at "We Get It" think will happen when the oil starts running out? 

Any clergy person (or anybody, period) who signs onto "We Get It" clearly doesn't "get it."   For those who do "get it" and who see this as the reprehensible manipulation that it is - we need to counter it with a steady barrage of facts and reality. 

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