"And the Lord said unto Cain: ‘Where is Abel your brother?’ And he said: ‘I don’t know; am I my brother’s keeper?" (Genesis 4:9) Sin is not always so clear as Cain slewing Abel. For example when we abuse God’s creation we often destroy people’s lives, but we may not recognize this as sin. Imagine God saying to us: "Where is your elderly neighbor who died from respiratory illness and polluted air?" We must hear the voice of our brother’s blood and do our utmost to alleviate further suffering: We are commanded to not "indulge the sinful nature, rather serve one another in love" (Galatians 5:13).

Do we, the Christian faithful, understand the sin of destroying the earth that then destroys people’s lives? What has become of our earth, God’s good creation, the support system for our children? Scientists warn us of impending ecological disaster. In 1992 the Union of Concerned Scientists issued a warning: "We the undersigned, senior members of the world's scientific community, hereby warn all humanity of what lies ahead. A great change in our stewardship of the earth and the life on it, is required, if vast human misery is to be avoided and our global home on this planet is not to be irretrievably mutilated." We the Christian faithful must acknowledge that God’s creation critically needs our righteous attention and action now.

Sadly, many of our federal administration’s actions seriously diminish creation’s ability to support life. For one example, the scientists of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimate that one out of six U.S. women of childbearing age has unsafe levels of mercury in her blood. Consequently, as many as 630,000 newborn children every year are at risk of having brain damage, mental retardation, blindness, seizures, and speech impediments. Power plants are the largest source of mercury pollution, and EPA's own scientists stated that current technologies could eliminate almost all their mercury emissions. Unfortunately, the electric and coal industries have been pressuring EPA to do as little as possible. The Administration's current plan allows plants to emit an alarming three times more mercury over the next decade than they could under the Clean Air Act. Furthermore, the administration’s most recent regulations for power plants have stalled the EPA’s legal actions against major polluters. EPA officials state that these rules will likely "eviscerate" the EPA’s program to control air pollution altogether.

Sadly, the Administration has taken many other actions that negatively impact human health, including allowing increased discharges from factories and sewage plants, mine waste to be dumped into rivers, and nuclear waste to be dumped where it was deemed to be dangerous by the Department of Energy. A declaration signed by over 300 clergy nationwide calls us to stop these abuses of Creation (www.stewardcreation.org).

These actions of the federal administration not only squander our opportunities to help creation to flourish, but they also counter God’s two paramount commands. Jesus said "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.", and "Love your neighbor as yourself." (Matthew 22:37-40) We close our hearts to Jesus’s words when we allow our government to cause terrible destruction of God’s good creation, and when that results in injustice and suffering. Let us demonstrate our love of God and neighbor by choosing leaders who will tend God’s creation like a garden, for the poor and the humble, our children, and the sanctity of life.