WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND HE IS US

Walt Kelly created this cartoon for Earth Day 1971. It was from his popular comic strip Pogo. The characters of Pogo were inhabitants of a swamp that uncannily became a mirror of the problems of society. More philosophical and reflective than much of the human race, the "folks" managed to speak truth into a society often engaged in massive denial. Kelly's black and white cartoon was green before the phrase meant more than dollars.

Now the debate rages over global warming and other environmental issues. There are Christians of the liberal persuasion who are so focused on this that they seem more concerned about saving the planet than saving souls. There are Christians of the conservative persuasion who want to deny any threat to the planet lest they be labeled pantheists or Obamaites. Sometimes I think the latter would deny the Second Coming if Jesus would turn out to be a Democrat--and the former would pass on the Second Coming because they might meet Jerry Falwell or Karl Rove in heaven.

Fortunately, there are Christians who see stewardship of the planet as the purpose of having dominion over it. Thinking green is a way of insuring that we when we are fruitful and multiply that life can be sustained in the holistic manner God the Father purposed when He intelligently designed the Universe.

Any political position or human philosophy that puts us at odds with God's purposes (or seeks to confine God's purposes) is the enemy - not Pat Robertson or Barack Obama, fiscal conservatism or social activism. I suspect we might all have to admit, if we are honest before God, "we have met the enemy and he is us."