JohnMurdock.org is now the place to be

For the latest from the mind of the Republican Treehugger, go to johnmurdock.org.

N.T. right again

What is marriage and has it changed just because we've hastily scribbled something new into the dictionary? N.T. Wright says "no" at First Things.

Preach it Pope

Pope Francis continues to do his namesake proud.

The latest from Rome.


Here are some highlights:

[T]he gift of knowledge helps us to avoid falling prey to excessive or incorrect attitudes. The first lies in the risk of considering ourselves masters of Creation. Creation is not a property, which we can rule over at will; or, even less, is the property of only a few: Creation is a gift, it is a wonderful gift that God has given us, so that we care for it and we use it for the benefit of all, always with great respect and gratitude.

The second incorrect attitude is the temptation to limit ourselves to creatures, as if they can provide the answer to all our expectations. With the gift of knowledge, the Holy Spirit helps us not to give in to all of this…but I would like to return to the first wrong path…Custodians Creation, not Masters of Creation it is a gift that the Lord has given us, to us! We are Custodians of Creation. But when we exploit Creation we destroy the sign of God’s love for us, in destroying Creation we are saying to God: “I don’t like it!. This is not good!” “So what do you like?” “I like myself!” – Here, this is sin! Do you see? Custody of Creation is custody of God’s gift to us and it is also a way of saying thank you to God. I am the master of Creation but to carry it forward I will never destroy your gift. And this should be our attitude towards Creation. Safeguard Creation. Because if we destroy Creation, Creation will destroy us! Never forget this!

National Climate Assessment: Starting at the Back of the Book.

There is a lot of good information in the recently released National Climate Assessment, but you are probably not going to get around to reading all 800+ pages of it. One of the best strategies might be to start with the ending. The final appendix of Frequently Asked Questions has some useful perspectives and some good information for busting prevalent myths.

The last graph illustrates the relationship between the reduction of carbon emissions and the stabilization of CO2 levels. Each year that we burn billions of tons of hydrocarbon fuels we are adding to the atmospheric load of this very persistent greenhouse gas. Sometimes we hear about reduced annual emissions, say from the recent shift from coal to natural gas as a fuel for electric power plants. This is a bit like talking about reducing the annual federal spending deficit. While a reduction is a step in the right direction, we still end up with more debt or CO2 than we had the year before. We are talking about heading in the wrong direction a bit more slowly, not heading in the right direction. I’m not highlighting that fact to depress you, but just to make clear the mountainous size of the problem we face. Right now, with both our debt and our greenhouse gas levels, we are the equivalent of a fat person who is trying to reduce his calories to the point that he’s only gaining five pounds a month instead of ten.

Acknowledging the problem is the first step towards a solution.

Happy St. Isidore's Day

It's May 15th. You know what that means, or maybe you don't . . .

but you can find out here.