The Endangered Species Protection Act and the Bible or Evolution
The Republican Congress is about to enact severe restrictions on the number of species protected by the Endangered Species Act.
If you are a Republican evangelical, you believe that God created the fish, the birds, and then the animals, for a purpose.
When God caused the flood, to punish those who strayed, he saved every species by having Noah build an ark. Did he tell Noah to limit the number of God’s creations to save, or did he save them all? Did God and Noah, and the writers of the Bible, all realize that It Takes an Ecosystem? All depend on each other.
Will the Republicans, in their self-indulgent frenzy, strike down restrictions on pesticides that will kill bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and other pollinators, which are already in severe trouble? This will affect Republican voting farmers and growers all over. Climate change will also bring more droughts, heat waves and insect pests.
Saying we can only protect a limited number of species, in our greed, when clean water, an environment free from mercury and lead poisoning, and acid rain, and having pristine national forests and parks, are environments that benefit all of us. Once destroyed, they cannot be restored, when the environmentally conscious party returns to power.
Consider the Republican religious supporters who value the life of each and every unborn, and want Roe vs. Wade overruled. This is religion based, descending from the Bible. How happy are they going to be about several entire, God created, endangered species being erased just for the greed of water polluters, or of pesticide producers, or of hunters who want to kill the last few of a species?
If you are scientifically oriented, you probably didn’t vote for a science-denying Republican anyway, but you realize it takes an ecosystem, and that species develop over millions of years, just as mankind did. What right do we have to value ourselves so highly, and yet cast other species aside, for a modest, temporary benefit, to only the richest few?
Don’t we all love zoos and aquariums, and animal, bird, and sea-life films? Don’t we all love dogs descended from wolves? We have a natural affinity for nature and all life forms. They are either our Biblical relatives, or our evolutionary ones. It turns out that 84% of Americans favor the Endangered Species Act. Let’s not let a few greedy oligarchs, and the congressmen that they pay for, violate our desires and our environment.
