November 08, 2011
Addressing an interfaith conference on air pollution, the chairman of the US bishops' Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development linked respect for the life of the unborn with concern for the environment.
"It is hard to imagine a situation that so clearly illustrates this link between the environment and life issues as the impact of mercury and other toxic air pollution on children's health," said Bishop Stephen Blaire of Stockton. "Children, inside and outside the womb, are uniquely vulnerable to environmental hazards and exposure to toxic pollutants in the environment."
"We would not subscribe to the thinking of those who define human beings solely in terms of coming from nature, beholden to nature as if nature or the earth were some kind of a god to which humankind is responsible," he added. "While indeed man is described in Gen 2:7 as coming out of the dust of the ground, it is God who 'formed the man…and blew into his nostrils the breath of life.' Genesis clearly teaches the responsibility of man and woman to God their Creator."
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