Newly elected Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), a self-described Democratic Socialist, turned to Scripture Wednesday in a tweet targeting the White House’s response — or lack thereof — to climate change issues.
In the post, Ocasio-Cortez referenced two passages from Genesis and one from the Old Testament book of Leviticus.
“Genesis 1: God looked on the world & called it good not once, not twice, but seven times.
Genesis 2: God commands all people to “serve and protect” creation.
Leviticus: God mandates that not only the people, but the land that sustains them, shall be respected.” https://t.co/AhWd3vuVBd
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 23, 2019
The 29-year-old lawmaker thanked Relevant for sourcing the Bible verses in her tweet. It seems she was referencing this paragraph from an article the Christian magazine published last fall:
Genesis 1 says that God looked on the world He had made and called it good not once, not twice, but seven times. In Genesis 2, God commands His image-bearers to “serve and protect” creation (Genesis 2:15). When God is teaching the Israelites how to be His people after rescuing them from Egypt, He mandates that not only the people but the land that sustains them shall be respected (Leviticus 25:1-5).
“You shouldn’t need a Bible to tell you to protect our planet,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote, “but it does anyway.”
Earlier this week, the outspoken politician erroneously referred to addressing the perceived dangers of climate change as “our World War II,” apparently forgetting we’ve already endured a second World War — the deadliest military conflict in world history — as well as the vast chasm between fighting climate change and confronting the evils of communism and Nazism.
AOC on millennials and climate change: “Like, this is our World War II.” pic.twitter.com/f8Pu1v8gDf
— Natalie Johnson (@nataliejohnsonn) January 22, 2019
And despite her Catholic upbringing, Ocasio-Cortez is an adamant supporter of abortion. According to her campaign website, she is an advocate of “open access to safe, legal, affordable abortion.”
Ocasio-Cortez said in October that, assuming Democrats retake control of the White House in 2020, they should “pack the Supreme Court of the United States of America” with left-leaning jurists to guard against the “insane” people on the right.
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“When you’re dealing with these insane people holding the country hostage on the right, you can’t go in with your endpoint. You have to go in with a strong position,” she said. “If they’re trying to end Planned Parenthood, I don’t think we go in with, ‘No, let’s keep Planned Parenthood.’ I think we go in with, ‘Let’s expand women’s rights to health care and have it guaranteed in every state.’”
While Ocasio-Cortez is right to suggest God gave us dominion over the earth — he did — she seems to be leaving out quite a bit. So it’s a little difficult to take her moral claims too seriously.