I was driving back to Austin from San Antonio one night and was flipping through radio channels when I came across a talk show on global warming. The host started off by giving a small background on the debate on global warming, saying that global warming is not a proven phenomenon and that all the doomsday scenarios being painted by many scientists is nothing but "liberal" false alarm. Then she proceeded to interview two scientists on both sides of the argument. The first person was a scientist with some private research agency and she mentioned all the points (melting glaciers, greenhouse gases, the big holes in the ozone layer, rising temperatures and sea-levels, etc.) which unequivocally confirmed global warming to be a fact. The next person vehemently opposed these points saying that everything was normal and all the melting glaciers, greenhouse gases, the big holes in the ozone layer, rising temperatures and sea-levels, etc. were not caused by human activity but are a part of a natural cycle the planet undergoes. Then something happened which I couldn't comprehend. I cannot quote the conversation verbatim, but here's a gist of what was going on:
Host: Now Dr. XYZ, what message can you give to our Christian listeners regarding the threat of global warming ?
Dr. XYZ: To all our Christian listeners, I would like to point out a quote in genesis. After destroying the earth in the great deluge, God made a promise to himself, that no matter what, he was not going to destroy the planet again. So, the faithful need not worry about global warming destroying our planet.....(monotonous monologue continued).
I sat there, in utter disbelief and astonishment at what just happened and at what I just heard. My first thought was..."Are these people SO dumb". Trying to find scientific truths in religious texts is one thing. But trying to hide a scientific truth and keeping people in the dark by qouting religious scriptures is ridiculous. I can only feel pity for the scientists here in the US, who have to battle religious bigots who want to view everything through the lens of religon, in addition to the mountain of odds in their line of work inorder to get to the truth.
