Pat Robertson Changes his Mind on Global Warming

This is going to be fascinating to watch. The global warming "controversy" is purely political, with gazillion-dollar corporations hoping they won't have to spend money cleaning up their pollution generators. These corporations, through their spokespersons in the Bush administration, have created a message that there is some debate in the scientific community about whether the earth is actually getting warmer, and if it is, whether humans are responsible for it.

This fake-controversy is salted with some attitudes from the religious right suggesting that God gave us the earth to enjoy, and that we can use its resources however we like. I'd guess this comes from Genesis 1:26:

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and 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.

(With its wonderful and confusing interpretation in the plural.)

So there we have "dominion" over it all. I had always taken that in a benign sense to mean that we were obligated to take care of it. But some people interpret this to mean that we can just do whatever we want with the earth and all of nature, like a king selecting a desirable virgin from some subject's household. That kind of dominion.

Anyway, the weather's been hot, and that has changed Pat Robertson's mind, aparently. Think Progress transcribed some of the 700 Club for us:

Yesterday on the 700 Club, evangelical Pat Robertson declared himself “a convert” on global warming. Robertson said that he has “not been one who believed in global warming in the past.” But now, Robertson said, he believes “it is getting hotter and the ice caps are melting and there is a build up of carbon dioxide in the air.” Robertson implored, “we really need to do something on fossil fuels.” Watch it:

Robertson talked briefly about global warming again on today’s edition of the 700 club. Alternet has the video.

Today’s transcript:

They are defending the society. But I tell you stay in doors ladies and gentleman. Stay cool. Get fans or whatever. And the poor, they need emergency fans and ice to cool down — the number of people dead. I have not been one who believed in the global warming. But I tell you, they are making a convert out of me as these blistering summers. They have broken heat records in a number of cities already this year and broken all-time records and it is getting hotter and the ice caps are melting and there is a build up of carbon dioxide in the air. We really need to address the burning of fossil fuels. If we are contributing to the destruction of the planet we need to do manage about it.

AlterNet notes:

Conservative Christian news outlet Agape Press, which often runs anti-global warming reports, has already picked up the statement and run it uncritically.

Yes, here's how AgapePress ran it:

..Televangelist Pat Robertson says he hasn't been a believer in global warming in the past, but this summer's record-breaking heat is, quote: "making a convert out of me." On his 700 Club broadcast, Robertson said, "It is getting hotter, and the icecaps are melting and there is a buildup of carbon dioxide in the air." Switching sides on an issue that divides evangelical Christians, Robertson said, "We really need to address the burning of fossil fuels." The religious broadcaster told viewers, "If we are contributing to the destruction of this planet, we need to do something about it." [AP]

I wonder what is going on here, really.