Santorum's quote epitomizes exactly what is wrong with the destructive, anthropocentric Western thought paradigm. He may believe his god endowed him and the other "good" Christians with some sort of moral superiority, which equates having license to treat the Earth as a resource that we may use and abuse freely. That attitude is precisely the problem. Even if you are a Creationist, shouldn't you recognize that god created all humans/animals, and gave us the Earth as our home, and therefore we should honor and respect that home? We should honor god and live as inhabitants of a global home, not the owner and benefactor. I consider honoring the Earth the ultimate form of worship.
It seems Santorum believes "progress" (development, wealth, power, domination, imperialism, colonization) is the objective of man. He's making statements like this from a platform that is supposedly informed by Christian virtues. It is difficult to see where Christian doctrine ends and capitalist rhetoric begins. It's a shame because it really makes Christianity look bad. I don't think the intention of Christianity is to become wealthy by oppressing those with less power, exploiting the Earth in the process, and then claiming you are doing so in the name of god. From early imperialist conquests to Manifest Destiny to the current neocolonialization taking place all over the world - these mindless displays of greed are not compatible with the teachings of Jesus. If we want to achieve environmental sustainability, we must address the cultural framework that assigns privilege to the desires of man at the expense of our natural world (which is paradoxical, as the desires of man contradict human interest). We shouldn't even be taking Rick Santorum seriously.
His comment is absolutely too much for me. I don't expect a politician running for US president (especially a conversative, evangelical Christian) to make any statement suggesting that environmental sustainability is more important than a "functioning economy" and the perceived needs of the human Earth-dwellers. I am shocked, however, that anyone could make a comment that directly affords man with the right to use the Earth's resources as we please, and then claim to be called by god to run for office. That doesn't align... We cannot honor god and at the same time claim that we are free to abuse the planet. The small amount of humans who actually benefit from the rampant pillaging of the Earth's resources are a very select, privileged few; so overall, exploiting the Earth's resources is not even serving the needs of man, but, in fact, doing the very opposite.
The way Santorum is weaving Christianity into his political campaign is simply misguided. God may have endowed us (humans) with "certain unalienable rights." Lets take a moment to reconsider what those rights are.
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