As the Republican Party, including the entire Utah delegation, stands by or cheerleads as the Trump administration removes environmental protections, hastening the ruination of the planet and the toxification of our land, water and air, one wonders if some see such destruction as justifiable because the end of days, and the return of Jesus Christ, is nigh. Why bother with responsible stewardship for the Earth — and its people — when it’s all about to end?
Slash, burn, raze and sell, for tomorrow the heathens die, and we will be exalted.
If Christ’s millennial reign is indeed imminent, I wonder, when he comes again, what he will feel when he sees everything.
He will see Venezuelans rotting in CECOT for the dread crime of seeking asylum while having a couple (Christian!) tattoos. He will see children newly going hungry. He will see people who needed but no longer have Medicaid losing their homes because of some unaffordable illness. He will see the homeless suffering ever more, as a great deal of funding for aid programs is now painted as "fraud, waste, and abuse" by current Republican standards. He will see immigrants removed to unstable third countries where refugees are likely to trafficked or tortured and killed.
He will see our lands and waters stripped of life to extract every last bit of natural resources for someone’s profit. He will see the great diversity of life this world has been blessed with diminishing day by day as habitats are destroyed and protections for endangered species abandoned.
Will tears of joy come to his eyes? Will he rejoice, saying, “Yes! This is exactly what I meant when I asked my people to prepare the world for my return!“? Will he high five John Curtis, Mike Lee, and Celeste Maloy for a job well done?
John D. Moore, South Salt Lake
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