The Freedom From Religion Foundation is objecting to a group of senators attempting to twist scientific reality to fit their political agendas.
Sens Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Rand Paul, R-Ky., James Inhofe, R-Okla., and James Lankford, R-Okla., recently requested that the National Science Foundation (NSF) treat climate change as if it were a “political and social debate” rather than a settled, scientific fact. In a letter sent to the senators, FFRF expresses alarm over the legislators’ choice to let their personal religious beliefs — rather than neutral, secular facts — dictate the policies they make.
“We are particularly concerned that your June 18 letter is a continuation of promulgating anti-science policies based on religious grounds,” writes FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Your letter to the NSF is yet another example, asking that settled science be treated as a political issue because it conflicts with your religious beliefs.”
Religion has been a significant driving force in the crusade against the reality of climate change.
Inhofe, in an effort to disprove climate change, once brought a snowball into the Senate chamber during the middle of winter, demonstrating a fundamental misunderstanding on the difference between weather and climate. During this display, the senator cited a bible passage to further justify his denial of facts: “My point is, God is 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 is not alone in making theocratic statements. Lankford once stated in an interview that his biblical worldview dictated the way he addresses issues. During his campaign for president, Cruz preached that, “Nothing is more important in the next 18 months than that the Body of Christ rises up and that Christians stand up” and that his supporters should “strap on the full armor of God.” And Paul called for a religious revival, falsely claiming “The First Amendment says keep government out of religion. It doesn’t say keep religion out of government.”
FFRF reminds the senators that religion has no place in the making of our secular nation’s policy. Our government has a godless Constitution that separates church and state and a bible, or any other holy text, is no justification for an action by legislators — especially an attempt to stifle empirical truth and scientific advancement.
“Regardless of whether you accept climate change, this is an issue that is better left to scientists,” writes Gaylor “As the NSF is obviously well aware, human-made climate change is an objectively real fact.”
FFRF is requesting that Cruz, Paul, Inhofe and Lankford stick to the secular governing tasks that they were elected to perform and rescind their misguided demands for an investigation into the grants given by the National Science Foundation. The scientific community must continue its research into this issue of global concern unimpeded by religious ideology.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit with 33,000 members across the country dedicated to protecting the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, and educating the public on matters relating to nontheism.
