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Religion's View from Appalachia: Only God Should Move Mountains
In Appalachia, there is a growing struggle between two formidable forces – the coal industry that provides jobs in this impoverished region and the religious leaders who knit its rural communities together.
As with everything here, the mountains and the coal they hold are at the heart of the conflict.
When the mines were underground, faith and mining could co-exist. But then the coal giants found a cheaper way to get at the wealth: They began blowing the tops off mountains and scrapping out the coal, contaminating streams and ravaging the landscape in the process.
“God put humanity in the garden to care for and cultivate it. We forget that,” says Father John Rousch, who takes anyone willing to listen to witness the devastation.
Rousch's Catholic Committee of Appalachia is one of several religious groups that have begun speaking out in Appalachia's churches, communities and state capitols against a practice they see as an outrage against creation: mountaintop removal.
Half a dozen major religious denominations have issued statements opposing mountaintop mining in recent years, but the strongest voices in this fight are coming from the local churches.
Unlike activists who sweep in from the cities, these religious leaders belong to coal country. They have the trust of the people, and they understand that when it comes to jobs here, coal is still king.
The Challenge of Poverty
The war over mountaintop mining is tightly intertwined with the region's extreme poverty.
In McDowell County, W.Va., a leading coal producing county, the poverty rate is nearly 38 percent. Coal is a big employer, and mining taxes contribute 8 percent of West Virginia's general fund, so lawmakers are loath to oppose the industry. The same scene plays out in the eastern Kentucky and parts of eastern Tennessee.
Coal's economic hold on the region makes it difficult for many people – even those victimized by mining – to speak out. If they oppose coal, they threaten their neighbors’ jobs and, in some cases, their own safety. They can’t count on their political representatives – most are coal-industry funded and staunchly pro-coal in their votes.
The strongest voices, then, have become a few brave victims and the preachers who speak for those who can’t.
“Coal is so intertwined in the economy, people feel like it’s coal or nothing. People are nervous about pulling the last bit of rug they have left,” explains Allen Johnson, founder of Christians for the Mountains, a leading voice in the fight to protect the mountains.
The industry's pressure to stay quiet about the destruction wrecked by mountaintop mining is intense, says Truman Hurt, who leads the Kodak Church of the True and Living God outside of Hazard, Ky.
In coal country, the voice of the industry is everywhere: advertisements, radio talk shows, pro-coal rallies at the capitol. Kentucky even has a "Friends of Coal” license plate.
Hurt, whose own wells have been contaminated by mining "overburden", used to offer his church as a meeting hall for Kentuckians for the Commonwealth in their fight against mountaintop removal. But church members asked him to stop for fear they would lose their jobs.
“They’ve seen it’s a possibility they may have to shut down or change things grossly, and they don’t want to. They’re fighting," Hurt says of the industry. “Coal pushes against anything that we do. The ones with jobs are getting a lot of pressure from their fellow workers. The only people who can speak out are those who don’ t depend upon coal.”
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It's admirable that
It's admirable that religious people take attitude in that, the nature is a divine creation, we don't have the right to destroy it. This reminds me of members at Church of Shambhala, they put sustained efforts to initiate green actions in the community, they are a fine example.
Throughout our religious
Throughout our religious community, teachings on wealth and poverty can be found as an essential part of faith.
Using Bible Verses Out of Context
The coal industry has tried issuing its own religious talking points, as well. From the Kentucky Coal Association web site:
“We’ve learned some religious leaders are railing against mountaintop mining and, as we hear it, invoking the Almighty to bring an end to the mining method.
“While these folks are certainly within their right to do so, it made us wonder, should we call for the same help to continue this mining practice, which is, after all, a temporary use of the land?
“We, therefore, even though reluctant to inject them into the debate, enter this scriptural citation for reflection: “Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; The rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all mankind shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” Isaiah 40:4-5, (New American Bible).“
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These verses are about the future coming of the Lord. In the NIV version of the Holy Bible it says that this can only ultimately happen and be fulfilled in the Millennium. If they think for one minute that what they are doing is going to reveal the Glory of the Lord that are sadly mistaken. If these people who are using bits and pieces of Bible to try to justify their maddening destructive ways, I would certainly not want to be in their place when they meet the Creator face to face.
Also they are claiming that they are only using this practice as a temporary use of the land??? MTR is forever. The impacts are NOT temporary.
They are destroying the
They are destroying the kingdom of god, and yet they are daring to defend themselves using bible verses. They must be shameless and faithless to do something like this, although i am not surprised that the coal companies act like this. Their only goal is to make money, no matter what.Still, they should realize that they are not God to decide when a mountain disappears.
Getting the Bible Wrong
Another classic case of the Fiends of Coal really, REALLY not understanding scripture. For anyone interested, that passage from Isaiah refers to physical impossibilities. The people of the time lacked the technology to do ANY of what was referenced. As such, filling in valleys and turning mountains into plains was something that could only happen for the coming of God.
Further, the FoC'ers in Kentucky apparently stopped reading after verse 5; for verse 9 commands "Go up on a high mountain, joyful messenger . . . shout without fear . . . 'Here is your God.'"
Kinda hard to shout from a high mountain that isn't there anymore, isn't it?
Reading a little further in the same chapter exposes the FoC'ers for the hypocrites they are: (Verse 12) "Who was it measured the water of the sea in the hollow of His hand and calculated the dimensions of the heavens, gauged the whole earth to the bushel, weighed the mountains in scales, the hills in a balance?"
Yet here we are, and coal companies, with the likes of Don Blankenship at their heads, presume to supplant the Almighty in weighing the mountains and balancing the hills, and doing so, no less, in the worship of that most demonic of false gods, Mammon.
In Verse 25, the Almighty has a question for the Mountain Removers: "To whom could you liken Me and who could be My equal?" By their actions, they have answered, and their answer is an afront unto Creator and Creation alike.
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