A Koch hack tells the Pope to 'back off' on climate change

[babylonsister]

Sun Dec 28, 2014 at 06:52 PM PST
A Koch hack tells the Pope to 'back off' on climate change

by devtob


Pope Francis will be issuing a rare encyclical on the environment and climate change next year, and it's pretty clear that his message will not be "Drill, baby, drill."

According to the Guardian story, Francis will urge "all Catholics to take action on moral and scientific grounds."

Along the lines of what he said in October:

The monopolising of lands, deforestation, the appropriation of water, inadequate agro-toxics are some of the evils that tear man from the land of his birth. Climate change, the loss of biodiversity and deforestation are already showing their devastating effects in the great cataclysms we witness.

Unlike in other matters through the many centuries, the Catholic Church has essentially accepted the overwhelming scientific consensus on climate change.

But some Catholics, especially in Fox "News"-deluded America, will have none of that, at least according to one of the hundreds of Koch-funded conservatives on offer to journalists to give the polluters' point of view.
...

Calvin Beisner of the Cornwall Alliance, a Religious Right group that specializes in promoting pollution, has been well-paid by the Kochs and other polluters to say things like this:

{to believe in climate change} "really is an insult to God ... and it will eventually lead to tyranny."

Here's what he gave the Guardian for "balance":

Francis will also be opposed by the powerful US evangelical movement, said Calvin Beisner, spokesman for the conservative Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, which has declared the US environmental movement to be “un-biblical” and a false religion.

“The pope should back off,” he said. “The Catholic church is correct on the ethical principles but has been misled on the science. It follows that the policies the Vatican is promoting are incorrect. Our position reflects the views of millions of evangelical Christians in the US.”

This is interesting on several levels.

more...

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/12/28/1354520/-A-Koch-hack-tells-the-Pope-to-back-off-on-climate-change#

[Cleita]

1. Maybe they've gone a step too far. For Catholics worldwide, who believe

the Pope has a direct communication line to God, this should have some blowback. I don't remember how many Catholics there are in this country alone, let alone in the world, maybe this will wake them up and they will start pushing back against these global polluters.

[1StrongBlackMan]

6. I was going to write ...

"Well ... So much for that 'Infallibility of the Pope' thing."

[Cleita]

7. He's only infallible when he speaks ex cathedra and issues an encyclical

stating that he's speaking ex cathedra. I don't think he's done that yet but is saying he will. Still his words carry a lot of weight.

[No Vested Interest]

9. Thank you for setting straight the misunderstanding so many have

re Papal infallibility.

I always find it distressing when this doctrine is improperly applied in debate or comment discussions.
If one does not accept the doctrine, fine, but please don't misapply it.

[whathehell]

21. Catholics worldwide..

don't believe that, but it is a common misunderstanding among non-Catholics.

The Pope, in canonical terms, is not "infallible" at all times, nor does he have

a 24/7 direct line to God.

The pope is only considered to be "infallible" when he speaks "ex-Cathedra" which

is a specific, formal situation.

P.S. I'm a lapsed Catholic, but after 12 years of Catholic school, I do know my stuff.

[2naSalit]

2. OOOOH BOY

I sure hope that backfires in their faces big time.

[roguevalley]

14. that koch sucker speaks for no one

[atreides1]

3. I don't think that word, 'Stewardship', means what they think it means!

Stewardship is an ethic that embodies the responsible planning and management of resources. The concepts of stewardship can be applied to the environment, economics, health, property, information , theology, etc.

The words responsible, planning, and management...are not words that this "Alliance" understands!

[SomethingFishy]

4. Belief in climate change is "An insult to god"?

If you are actually a religious person, then what we did and are doing to our planet would be an insult to god.

[Agony]

5. What makes "inadequate agro-toxics" evil?

is that a typo somehow?

[Jackpine Radical]

8. I admit I'm not particularly religious , so I don't get it.

I really don't get it.

So, like, eating an apple was a sufficient offense to get thrown out of the Garden, but destroying a whole fucking biosphere is OK?

[jwirr]

12. LOL. You are correct.

[belzabubba333]

28. no you dont get it

[lark]

10. There the Pope goes again...

listening to all those fancy (science) words n stuff - Sarah Palin.

[Fred Sanders]

11. 50 million American evangelical Christians are about to be struck smart...it was always God's plan.

[dorkzilla]

13. Evangelicals don’t even think Catholics are Christians

This won’t do a thing to change their puny little brains.

[Jackpine Radical]

20. We should be so lucky

as to have them all struck smart.

[hifiguy]

22. That would probably require more energy than exists in the known universe,

being, as such, mathematically impossible. That's an awful lot of incredibly powerful dumb to overcome.

Somehow I don't think Francis is shaking in his shoes at the threats from this goober.

[Jackpine Radical]

29. That reminds me--Speaking of the Pope's shoes

Francis apparently ditched this style:

[hifiguy]

30. He really doesn't seem like a red patent leather sort of pope.

Unlike Benny the Rat.

[DetlefK]

15. OMG! The Pope is part of Barbara Streisand's conspiracy!!!1!

[Ilsa]

16. "Our position reflects the views of millions of evangelical

Christians in the US." In other words, their position isn't science based, but based on populism and convenience and greed.

[Brigid]

17. Mr. Geisner has chosen his opponent poorly, methinks.

[Bonhomme Richard]

18. The truth is that these type evangelicals never liked Catholics anyway.

Pope Francis is going to be the force that creates a major shift in U.S. Catholics thinking. Once they witness the full bore historic hatred of Catholics coming from, whom they believed to be allies, should open a lot of minds.

[ThoughtCriminal]

19. So we should keep burning more oil to support Islamic Theocracy in the Middle East?

To do otherwise would "Insult God"?

[SylviaD]

23. "Unlike in other matters through the many centuries..."

What does that even mean? The Catholic Church accepts evoluton, the Big Bang theory, climate change, etc etc.

What "other matters" are you speaking of? Yes, the Church was slow to accept Galileo's assertion that the Earth revolves around the sun. So were millions of people, religious and non-religious alike.

Besides that one specific example, what "other" scientific matters has the Church failed to accept?

Sounds like typical anti-Catholic rhetoric.

[blackspade]

24. "Our position reflects the views of millions of evangelical Christians in the US.”

Did his fool not notice that the Pope is the head of the Catholic Church?

And how is Beisner's 'organization' a steward of creation?
Fucking asshole.

[glinda]

35. This may be also political to attempt to build the Evangelical Church

I say that because it has always bothered my that the previous Pope, Pope Benedict XVI, whom I have NO respect for, planted the verbiage seed when he declared a "New Evangelization". Although it can be interpreted many ways just the word alone and it's intention to bring back the flock to the old ways, further solidifies the splinter of the Catholic Church into hard core conservatives and a more liberal faction. More ways to weaken the Catholic Church.
This also helps people like Beisner and his group. So sad.

[madashelltoo]

25. Pope Francis has lost his title just like

President Obama. The article states: Francis will also be opposed . . . The level of disrespect in this country for anyone who dares disagree is amazing. If you are for people's rights, the planet's preservation or immigration; you don't deserve a title.

[Dawson Leery]

26. You noticed that too.

It is obvious that only those who tow the line without any question are afforded respect.

[PeaceNikki]

27. "for people's rights"? I hope you mean Obama and not Francis.

[ThoughtCriminal]

31. Does not seem to follow the AP Style Guide

http://apstylebook.blogspot.com/2009/05/religious-titles.html

On second reference to members of the clergy, use only a last name: the Rev. Billy Graham on first reference, Graham on second. If known only be a religious name, repeat the title: Pope Paul VI or Pope Paul on first reference Pope Paul, the pope (not Paul) or the pontiff on second; ...

[nakocal]

32. Another lying douchebag Calvin Beisner

Calvin Beisner is basically saying fuck the facts, money for the wealth is more important. And we have the ignorant racists to support us.

[Cha]

33. "Calvin Beisner of the Cornwall Alliance, a Religious Right group that specializes in promoting

Pollution.."

Who knew God wanted a Dirty Planet? I don't know much about "God" but I know that they don't speak for anybody but themselves and perhaps the Greedy oil companies?

[Cha]

34. PS.. Go Pope Francis! thank you, babsis

[Baitball Blogger]

36. Kick for the awesome Pope.

If only he had been around during the Bush II years. I would have liked to have heard what he would have said about that mess.

[freshwest]

37. Same idiocracy that Carter and Obama have faced. Oh, that science thing. But the Pope's statement:

The monopolising of lands, deforestation, the appropriation of water, inadequate agro-toxics are some of the evils that tear man from the land of his birth. Climate change, the loss of biodiversity and deforestation are already showing their devastating effects in the great cataclysms we witness.

Shows who has the moral ground, in just two sentences. Reversing this course is a goal of mankind and life itself. We are not going to fly away and escape it, nor should we plan on disposing this planet. It is also a measure of how we treat each other, the way we treat the Earth. In every term in those two sentence, we see the death and or misery of millions living now and in the world to come - not in the Kingdom Come as Apocalyptics use as their excuse to discard living beings, including all flora and fauna. The encyclical is right in all I'm reading here, and I hope this light is not snuffed out by the Koch billionaires.

The Kochs have threatened Obama since 2009 over Keystone. They have fostered willful stupidity in the populace through ubiquitous repetition on all venues. They know they are wrong but continue on their path, as if they are alien to this planet, period. There is no making peace with them, they only accept total surrender of the mind, and that is still not survivable.