The Freedom Institute of Erie County is a Tea Party group in Ohio who has sent out a “purity test” type questionnaire to prospective candidates. The group wanted to understand candidates’ positions on issues so they could decide whether or not to support them. The full text of the questionnaire is available here. (PDF)
Much of it is standard Tea Party fare. The candidate must be Pro-Life, homophobic, advocate for the repeal of Obamacare, be anti-union, against debt, a fierce capitalist, and strong on the 2nd Amendment. It starts to get a little comical where they insist the candidate oppose the Ohio state income tax. They aren’t for lower taxes, they want none. But the following test takes the proverbial cake:
The regulation of Carbon Dioxide in our atmosphere should be left to God and not government and I oppose all measures of Cap and Trade as well as the teaching of global warming theory in our schools.
Granted, opposition to teaching children anything that lies in conflict with their ideology is standard fare, but consider the implications of the first part of that statement. “The regulation of Carbon Dioxide in our atmosphere should be left to God.” This cannot reasonably leave open the possibility that men could be the hands of God. Rather this is clearly saying, if God wants to lower the carbon emissions then that is His divine business, to be dealt with using whenever supernatural powers He deems appropriate. But man should not lift a finger.
Presumably there’s nothing particularly special about carbon dioxide. I’m pretty sure it’s not mentioned in the bible anywhere. Therefore, it seems all pollutants must fall under this same sort of guideline. Everything from nuclear waste to gum wrappers should just be discarded at the whim of man. And if God doesn’t want His Earth so violated, He’ll clean it up himself.
It’s not so very unusual to see thinly veiled calls for Christian theocracy to come from the far right, but given that God is going to take an official government role, isn’t making Him head of the EPA rather under-utilizing His talent?