Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), author of the book The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future, is claiming that climate change is impossible because “God’s still up there.”
Inhofe made the claim during an appearance on “Crosstalk with Vic Eliason,” the radio program of Voice of Christian Youth America. Audio of Inhofe’s remarks is available at People For The American Way’s Right Wing Watch.
Eliason: Senator, we’re going to talk about your book for a minute, you state in your book which by the way is called The Greatest Hoax, you state in your book that one of your favorite Bible verses, Genesis 8:22, ‘while the earth remaineth seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease,’ what is the significance of these verses to this issue?
Inhofe: Well actually the Genesis 8:22 that I use in there is that ‘as long as the earth remains there will be seed time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night,’ my point is, God’s still up there. The arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what He is doing in the climate is to me outrageous.
Inhofe’s belief that the Bible proves that humans can’t do anything about the climate one way or another seems to challenge the very idea of free will. It also raises questions about Inhofe’s political platform; by his logic the missile defense systems that he lobbies so hard for would be unnecessary, considering that God would never allow a nuclear attack to ruin the harvest.
This isn’t the first time that Inhofe has spoken out on the issue. Inhofe is a longtime global warming denier and is so unrelenting in his opposition to climate science that environmental activist Robert Kennedy Jr. has referred to him as “big oil’s top call girl.”
Inhofe responded to Kennedy’s charge by saying “if you don’t have logic on your side, and you don’t have the truth on your side, you don’t have the science on your side, and you don’t have the votes on your side, all you can do is call names.”
If his claim seems odd, it’s because it is. After all, Kennedy does have 97 percent of scientific experts on his side. All Inhofe has is a single Bible passage and a conspiracy theory.
