On Sunday afternoon, CNN ran a full report to promote the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act by highlighting religious organizations that have used the law to help purchase solar panels. Church-state separation can go away for "climate action."
Fill-in host Paula Reid set up the report:
The Biden White House allocated $370 billion to clean energy and climate two years ago with the Inflation Reduction Act. Since then, more than 750,000 families have used the new tax benefits to put up solar panels. But one of the groups might surprise you. CNN's Elisa Raffa spoke with faith leaders uniting in climate action.
In a pre-recorded piece, CNN weather reporter Elisa Raffa began by highlighting the case of Dr. Neha Pathak, a practicing Hindu who became interested in fighting climate change after blaming it for some of her patients' problems:
ELISA RAFFA: After noticing more of her patients dealing with the impacts of longer allergy seasons, more extreme heat, and increasing air, pollution Dr. Neha Pathak's search for prescriptions took her down a seemingly unconventional path.
Dr. NEHA PATHAK, PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN: It can have a big impact on your own personal resilience. So I really looked to my faith tradition to help bolster that resilience for me.
A bit later, she was seen speaking with a rabbi who talked up using solar panels to avoid using fossil fuels:
RAFFA: What are the benefits to your congregation getting solar panels?
RABBI LAURENCE ROSENTHAL, AHAVATH ACHIM SYNAGOGUE: Well, you take yourself off the grid, so we're not continuing to burn coal. The other piece of it is to, in the long term, to lower some of the electrical costs that we have.
Raffa then highlighted the Biden administration's actions:
The Inflation Reduction Act is the most significant climate legislation Congress has ever passed, making religious institutions eligible for direct-pay rebates for the first time -- 117 panels generate 440 watts of energy, offsetting 26 percent of the electricity at this church's campus. That's something that's becoming more common thanks to recent funding from the Inflation Reduction Act. Solar is the fastest growing renewable energy source, up nearly eightfold in the past decade. One forecast shows the Inflation Reduction Act will lead to a 48 percent boost in solar deployment in the next 10 years.
Toward the end of the piece, the CNN reporter promoted soundbites arguing that religious leaders are obligated to support the left's environmental agenda:
Dr. PATHAK: We have the science, we understand why this is happening, and now this faith piece is the reverence for the world around us -- the moral call to do the work that aligns with the science.
RAFFA: Why are you as a rabbi so passionate about these environmental issues?
RABBI ROSENTHAL: If I ignore the environmental crisis that we are continuing to wade through, then I'm not taking that charge seriously. I'm not caring for other human beings.
RAFFA: The crossroads here between climate, religion and politics just working so well...
The report did not take the time to delve into any of the arguments that solar power is not necessarily the magic bullet that liberals like to promote it as.
Transcript follows:
CNN Newsroom
August 25, 2024
7:49 p.m. Eastern
PAULA REID: The Biden White House allocated $370 billion to clean energy and climate two years ago with the Inflation Reduction Act. Since then, more than 750,000 families have used the new tax benefits to put up solar panels. But one of the groups might surprise you. CNN's Elisa Raffa spoke with faith leaders uniting in climate action.
ELISA RAFFA: After noticing more of her patients dealing with the impacts of longer allergy seasons, more extreme heat, and increasing air, pollution Dr. Neha Pathak's search for prescriptions took her down a seemingly unconventional path.
Dr. NEHA PATHAK, PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN: It can have a big impact on your own personal resilience. So I really looked to my faith tradition to help bolster that resilience for me.
RAFFA: Through that search, this physician in practicing Hindu found herself serving as a board member for Georgia Interfaith Power and Light. Her work towards climate and spiritual solutions is more connected than you might think.
Dr. PATHAK: So the first thing we do when we wake up, one of our prayers is to thank Mother Earth for allowing us to step on her all day long. When we take our first bite of food for the day, we thank Mother Earth for providing us this food.
RAFFA: As the board chair, Rabbi Laurence Rosenthal points out the Bible has been talking about extreme weather for thousands of years with examples like Noah's Ark, plagues, and famine.
RABBI LAURENCE ROSENTHAL, AHAVATH ACHIM SYNAGOGUE: When you read the book of Psalms, it does talk about the thunder and the lightning and the wind and the storms and the sea and all that it's contained, and it really focuses on experiencing God through the environment.
RAFFA: So while solar panels on the roof of this church which may seem like an unlikely intersection between climate, religion and politics, it's actually shining. What are the benefits to your congregation getting solar panels?
RABBI ROSENTHAL: Well, you take yourself off the grid, so we're not continuing to burn coal. The other piece of it is to, in the long term, to lower some of the electrical costs that we have.
RAFFA: The Inflation Reduction Act is the most significant climate legislation Congress has ever passed, making religious institutions eligible for direct pay rebates for the first time -- 117 panels generate 440 watts of energy, offsetting 26 percent of the electricity at this church's campus. That's something that's becoming more common thanks to recent funding from the Inflation Reduction Act.
Solar is the fastest growing renewable energy source, up nearly eightfold in the past decade. One forecast shows the Inflation Reduction Act will lead to a 48 percent boost in solar deployment in the next 10 years. In the two years since the new rebates, Georgia Interfaith Power and Light says it has seen a 50 percent increase in faith communities enrolling in their Solar Wise program. When it comes to the climate crisis, these faith leaders agree. The calling is clear.
Dr. PATHAK: We have the science, we understand why this is happening, and now this faith piece is the reverence for the world around us -- the moral call to do the work that aligns with the science.
RAFFA: Why are you as a rabbi so passionate about these environmental issues?
RABBI ROSENTHAL: If I ignore the environmental crisis that we are continuing to wade through, then I'm not taking that charge seriously. I'm not caring for other human beings.
RAFFA: The crossroads here between climate, religion and politics just working so well, and, historically, we don't really find that that's the case like for topics like evolution and abortion where that gets a little bit more complicated. Now, the White House noticed that these religious organizations are really taking on the charge of climate action.
John Podesta, senior advisor to Biden on this topic, telling CNN last week that these groups "have been active voices in the climate debate. They're on the front lines of dealing with the effects of extreme weather because they are the ones that are in the disadvantaged communities." And, again, it's not just one religion. We're seeing multiple religions come together and show us that we are much more similar than we might think. Paula?
