Pope Francis says neglecting the environment is a sin.

[Glassunion]

9. My RW BIL is one of those.

He has the view that God gave dominion (which is indeed mentioned in the bible) over the earth. Gen 1:26 - and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

He feels that this "dominion over" equates to a form of dominance, and since we have a God-given dominance over the earth, we can do with it, and consume it as we please. He has at least stopped denying human caused global warming. He feels that God will simply come back and end everything anyway, so there is no need to take care of the planet. He then goes on a rant about how hypocritical I am because I take more than about 10 minutes to shower (man-scaping is delicate work).

It's this pecking and choosing verses, and selective defining of words without reading the context that really annoys the crap out of me. First dominion means to have sovereignty over, not domination over. On the most simplistic level, to be sovereign over something, is to be its caretaker, or more aptly a warden. I read one of the Pope's tweets a while back that stated pretty much the same thing. Two verses later (context is key), God speaks to them and says: be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it... "Replenish" in this context tells me to perhaps replant a tree that I cut down, don't wipe out wildlife but maintain it. Basically don't consume it at, but to be its warden and care for it. There is a natural order of things, and to completely consume anything in that order can and will have a detrimental effect on the entire system.

"Subdue" I read simply as not wrestling the earth into compliance, but to instead build upon it, or working it to your needs. You subdue a field when you till it, you subdue the elements of nature by building a roof over your head, etc...

And yes, my BIL really needs to work on the golden rule too...