Okay, so this is admittedly a little bit of a sidetrack, but can someone please explain to me why the majority of Christians today seem so against environmental progress? I mean, I see how your faith will impact your politics when it comes to things like abortion. I totally get that.
But seriously? When did conservative Christians decide to leave the environmental debate up to everyone else to fight over? Doesn’t God in the very first book of the Bible put humans in charge of taking care of the earth? Hello?
I’ve only been a Christian for a few weeks now, and I know there’s still a ton I need to learn. I also know that my specific political leanings may not line up a hundred percent with the majority of evangelical Christians, and that’s fine with me. I figure that God’s judging me based on how much I actually meant it when I asked him to forgive my sins as opposed to how I’ll choose to vote in the next election.
But I’m not off my soap box yet. I just need another minute. (And yes, this totally does tie into my near-death experience on that doomed flight to Detroit. I’ll get there.)
Did you know that one of the biggest reasons I never even dreamed of becoming a Christian myself was because I thought I’d have to dye my hair back to its natural brunette and start voting for the other guys? Seriously. That’s honestly what I thought Christianity was. That’s why I’m saying I’m so glad God doesn’t judge me based on which box I check when I go to the polls.
I already told you how upset I get about human trafficking, but now I need to talk for a minute about environmental justice. I took a whole course last semester, and I’m pretty well studied up on it.
Did you know that if you go up to a typical pastor and say, “Hey, do you know what environmental justice is?” you’re likely to either get a blank stare or some kind of tirade about how global warming is a hoax? But that has nothing to do with environmental justice.
You want a living example? Take the Flint water supply. There’s lead in the pipes and no way to fix it. Apparently, it would cost far less to relocate the entire Flint community than to figure out which pipes are leaking lead and poisoning Flint’s children (and adults).
That’s bad. I’m pretty sure we can all agree on that no matter where we lie on the political spectrum. Right?
But there’s more. This isn’t just about clean water. This is about class distinction. Because what are you going to do if you’re a professional working in Flint, making a multi six-figure income a year and you find out the water there is poisoning you and your family and nobody’s going to do anything to fix it?
You move.
Worst case scenario? Maybe your house forecloses (because who’s going to buy land in Flint?). So your credit score takes a hit. But you’ve got the money, the resources, and the savings account to start over.
Good-bye, Flint. Hello water supply that isn’t going to kill you.
Easy as pie.
Now imagine you’re an immigrant single mother. You’re working two jobs just to put food on the table because your income’s just high enough you don’t qualify for food stamps and just low enough that you can’t afford anything. You’ve got three kids. Those kids have to eat. The baby needs diapers. Oh, and since you’re working all the time, you have to pay for all that baby formula.
The problem? The water you’re mixing with your baby’s formula will eventually kill her.
So what are your options? Well you can buy bottled water. Except oops. That costs more money than you have, and you’re already diluting your formula to make it stretch and worried that your baby’s health might suffer as a result. Besides, even if you give her purified water to drink, what happens when she needs to wash her hands or take a bath? She’s still soaking in poison through that soft, porous skin of hers.
So maybe you wait for the government to come and fix things. After all, poisoned drinking water certainly should fall under the category of a national emergency. Except the government’s uncomfortably silent on the matter. I wonder why that is. Could it be because those with the loudest political voices have already taken their trust funds and their retirement accounts and moved away?
Back to choices then. Because after all, this is America. The land of freedom. You have the right to live anywhere you want. Don’t need the state’s permission to move to a new town.
Except how are you going to afford a moving van? Or a safety deposit on a new apartment? And what about the fact that you’re too busy working your two jobs just to keep the kids from starving that you literally can’t start over?
And so you stay. And each and every time you fill up that baby’s bottle, even though you’re using a filter and hoping that will help even just a little, you have to wonder if while nourishing your daughter, you’re also killing her.
Slowly. Methodically.
Because this is what happens when you’re poor and voiceless and living in the land of the free.
Am I off my soapbox? I suppose for now. But I just had to get that off my chest.
Going back to what happened on that flight, there’s absolutely no excuse for murdering an innocent victim in cold blood. No reason anyone should stand up and shoot a flight attendant execution style.
Nor is there any reason whatsoever in which it is justified to tamper with a flight carrying hundreds of people. People who are going to die because of your callous decisions.
Sometimes when I wake up from nightmares, the sound of gunshots reverberating in a stark airplane cabin in my ears and the scent of smoke in my nose, I’m tempted to hate the men who did this.
Except I can’t.
I can’t hate them because — even though I could never justify their actions — I understand exactly why they felt this act of homegrown terrorism was the only solution to their plight.