Bill Moyers Is Lame
I watched Bill Moyers last night. It just happened to be on and I was going to change the channel, but I hit Info and saw he was talking about the link between "evangelical Christians" and "mountaintop mining."
Puzzled, I recorded it. When I watched it, I was shocked, because Bill Moyers was just so bald-facedly hypocritical. He was taking the side of a group of Christians who claimed that mountaintop mining is "sinful."
They were making some extraordinarily outlandish claims that denied our scientific understanding, such as "God didn't destroy the earth. And, he doesn't destroy the earth." Now, it depends on what you mean by "God" and "destroy," but we know that this planet has been "destroyed" many times over without our help, and indeed, the mountains themselves represent a destruction of the earth (since they are formed by the earth essentially tearing itself apart into new forms) moreso than a destruction of those mountains does.
And the theological claims were shallow and highly questionable. We were told that the question "now which one of these mountains do you think God will come down here and blow up?" is self-evident proof that we shouldn't blow up any mountains, but that is question-begging at its worst.
Another man said "God will destroy those who destroy the earth," referencing Revelation 11:18, but how is this "destruction" to God any different than building massive roadways across the country, and excavating for large buildings and runways and whatever else we happen to be doing? Or his own house, assuming he doesn't live in a tree?
None of this is by itself altogether significant, until you realize that Bill Moyers has been attacking Creationism for a long time now, on the basis that it is religion and therefore should be separate from government, and that it opposes scientific "truth." But now he is using those same views he has scorned in the past -- religious statements that science has proven false, and mandating state action based on religious principles -- to push his agenda against mountaintop removal.
Also odd was that almost the entire piece was about the lack of clean water for these families; surely everyone agrees they should have clean water, and not have to bear the burden for the acts of others. But the piece only offered two choices: bad water, or mountaintop mining. It was not until the end of the piece that we saw they now have clean water piped in from elsewhere (all through the piece I was wondering why they didn't consider that option). Then they said the fight to stop the mining continues, and Moyers still said we should oppose it; but apart from it being a "spiritual issue," he didn't tell us why we should.
I was left with the unmistakable impression that Moyers doesn't mind religious beliefs in the public square, even if they contradict science, as long as those beliefs happen to be on his side of the issue.
Puzzled, I recorded it. When I watched it, I was shocked, because Bill Moyers was just so bald-facedly hypocritical. He was taking the side of a group of Christians who claimed that mountaintop mining is "sinful."
They were making some extraordinarily outlandish claims that denied our scientific understanding, such as "God didn't destroy the earth. And, he doesn't destroy the earth." Now, it depends on what you mean by "God" and "destroy," but we know that this planet has been "destroyed" many times over without our help, and indeed, the mountains themselves represent a destruction of the earth (since they are formed by the earth essentially tearing itself apart into new forms) moreso than a destruction of those mountains does.
And the theological claims were shallow and highly questionable. We were told that the question "now which one of these mountains do you think God will come down here and blow up?" is self-evident proof that we shouldn't blow up any mountains, but that is question-begging at its worst.
Another man said "God will destroy those who destroy the earth," referencing Revelation 11:18, but how is this "destruction" to God any different than building massive roadways across the country, and excavating for large buildings and runways and whatever else we happen to be doing? Or his own house, assuming he doesn't live in a tree?
None of this is by itself altogether significant, until you realize that Bill Moyers has been attacking Creationism for a long time now, on the basis that it is religion and therefore should be separate from government, and that it opposes scientific "truth." But now he is using those same views he has scorned in the past -- religious statements that science has proven false, and mandating state action based on religious principles -- to push his agenda against mountaintop removal.
Also odd was that almost the entire piece was about the lack of clean water for these families; surely everyone agrees they should have clean water, and not have to bear the burden for the acts of others. But the piece only offered two choices: bad water, or mountaintop mining. It was not until the end of the piece that we saw they now have clean water piped in from elsewhere (all through the piece I was wondering why they didn't consider that option). Then they said the fight to stop the mining continues, and Moyers still said we should oppose it; but apart from it being a "spiritual issue," he didn't tell us why we should.
I was left with the unmistakable impression that Moyers doesn't mind religious beliefs in the public square, even if they contradict science, as long as those beliefs happen to be on his side of the issue.
"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."
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