Book review.
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Divine Destruction: Dominion Theology and American Environmental Policy
(Melville Manifestos) (Paperback)
by Stephenie Hendricks
BUZZFLASH REVIEWS
This is a thought-provoking, insightful exploration of how the Bush
Administration developed an anti-environmental policy that is leading us
into the destruction of "America the Beautiful," the selling off of our
publicly owned national parks and forests, and our continued slouching
toward an irreversible global warming meltdown.
In the onslaught of their rapacious assault on our natural resources and
natural heritage, much blame has been placed on the corporations who
benefit from gaining private wealth from public property. And it is true
that these GOP contributors -- epitomized by the king of the natural
resource exploiters, ***** Cheney -- now have people placed in key
positions of the Bush Administration.
These exploiters see preservation of the environment only as an obstacle
to the extraction of natural resources or recreational development that
destroys natural settings. Profit trumps nature any day of the week in
the Bush Administration.
But, as "Divine Destruction" explains, a key underpinning of the Bush
anti-environmental policy is based on extremist religious thinking. This
includes the "Dominionists" who claim Biblical justification for the
outlook that God gave the earth to men and women to use for their
comfort and wealth. In fact, many "Dominionists" regard conservationists
as unholy "pantheists" who make the mistake of seeing God in nature.
As an adjunct to the "Dominionist" movement (and we are simplifying this
complex fanatical religious overview here for the sake of brevity), many
hardcore right wing fundamentalist supporters of Bush believe in the
"End Time" theory that Jesus will return to earth and lead the true
Christian believers to heaven. The despoiling of the earth (and a world
torn apart by war) isn't really anything to be concerned about because
the world is nearing "Rapture" (the return of Christ) anyway.
What does a clean stream or majestic mountain matter when those who
follow Christ will shortly be in a state of Messianic transcendence?
Destruction of our environment in the name of God had its public
political coming out when Reagan's infamous Secretary of the Interior,
James Watt, declared (at his confirmation hearing): "I do not know how
many future generations we can count on before the Lord returns." Gale
Norton, who just resigned as the Secretary of the Interior (it appears
due to some improprieties that are coming out) was one of Watt's top
proteges.
Of course, the religious justification for ruining mother earth is
hidden behind the standard Republican Orwellian terms, such as the "Wise
Use" movement. Is there anything wise about bulldozing the house you
live in and spraying it with toxic chemicals, and then burning the
debris? That's what the fundamentalist "Wise Use" movement in the Bush
administration is doing to our nation's natural beauty and to our planet.
"Divine Destruction" is an enlightened, reflective journey into the
underpinnings of an anti-environmental presidency that threatens us all.
Terrorism will be like a gnat on an elephant's behind compared to the
global environmental catastrophe the Busheviks are leading us into. And
that is no exaggeration.
Of course, the "Rapture" and "End Times" believers think that this is a
good thing.
The rest of us just see ourselves as next on the endangered species list.
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http://www.buzzflash.com/reviews/06/03/rev06043.html
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John Hachmann aa #1782
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"
-Voltaire
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