Scott Pruitt in Politico.com


On Abortion: Double headline - Already Done

Scott Pruitt lamented that "minority religions" were pushing Christianity out of "the public square" and advocated amending the Constitution to ban abortion, prohibit same-sex marriage and protect the Pledge of Allegiance and the Ten Commandments, according to a newly unearthed series of Oklahoma talk radio shows from 2005.

Throughout the programs, Pruitt suggested that states might need to call a constitutional convention to propose amendments that would allow expression of religion in government, declare abortion illegal and bar same-sex marriage.

Pruitt acknowledged some trepidation about holding a constitutional convention, which could make wholesale changes to the nation's founding charter.

"It scares me to a large degree to go into something like a constitutional convention, 'cause that means that we're going to have to really be educated, and informed, and debate," he said. "But you know what? Maybe it's time."

Source: Politico.com, "Pruitt tapes," on 2018 Trump Cabinet Mar 2, 2018

On Education: Evolution is unproven theory

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt dismissed evolution as an unproven theory, according to a newly unearthed series of Oklahoma talk radio shows from 2005.

"There aren't sufficient scientific facts to establish the theory of evolution, and it deals with the origins of man, which is more from a philosophical standpoint than a scientific standpoint," he said in one part of the series, in which Pruitt and the program's hosts discussed issues related to the Constitution.

Two years earlier, Pruitt had supported an unsuccessful bill that would have required textbooks in Oklahoma to carry a disclaimer that evolution is a theory.

EPA would not say this week whether any of Pruitt's positions have changed since 2005. An EPA spokesman said "if you're insinuating that a Christian should not serve in capacity as EPA administrator, that is offensive and a question that does not warrant any further attention."

Source: Politico.com, "Pruitt tapes," on 2018 Trump Cabinet Mar 2, 2018

On Energy & Oil: Grant oil industry waivers to ignore gasohol mandate

President Donald Trump has ordered the EPA to expand sales of corn ethanol, allowing year-round sales of gasoline with 15% ethanol content, an increase over the 10% blends that are sold at most gas stations. The sale of the blends, known as "E15," [is part of the] federal biofuels mandate that Congress first created in 2005 to help reduce U.S. dependence on imported oil. The mandate requires oil refiners to blend specified volumes of biofuels into the nation's gasoline supply.

Trump has personally sought to mediate the dispute, which has pitted ethanol backers against [oil states who asked to] grant concessions to the oil industry. The oil industry had benefited from the more than two dozen waivers that former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt granted to refineries that allowed them to ignore the mandate that they blend the corn-based fuel with gasoline. But that angered farm groups, who said it reduced the requirement for ethanol by billions of gallons.

Source: Politico.com's Eric Wolff on 2018 Trump Administration

On Families & Children: Double headline - Already Done

Scott Pruitt lamented that "minority religions" were pushing Christianity out of "the public square" and advocated amending the Constitution to ban abortion, prohibit same-sex marriage and protect the Pledge of Allegiance and the Ten Commandments, according to a newly unearthed series of Oklahoma talk radio shows from 2005.

Throughout the programs, Pruitt suggested that states might need to call a constitutional convention to propose amendments that would allow expression of religion in government, declare abortion illegal and bar same-sex marriage.

Pruitt acknowledged some trepidation about holding a constitutional convention, which could make wholesale changes to the nation's founding charter.

"It scares me to a large degree to go into something like a constitutional convention, 'cause that means that we're going to have to really be educated, and informed, and debate," he said. "But you know what? Maybe it's time."

Source: Politico.com, "Pruitt tapes," on 2018 Trump Administration Mar 2, 2018

On Gun Control: Double headline - Already Done

According to a newly unearthed series of Oklahoma talk radio shows from 2005, Pruitt, who at the time was a state senator, described the Second Amendment as divinely granted and condemned federal judges as a "judicial monarchy" that is "the most grievous threat that we have today."

In the 2005 recordings, Pruitt also backed a broad interpretation of the Second Amendment's right to bear arms, saying it derives from a divine mandate and thus cannot be limited.

"If you can tell me what gun, type of gun, I can possess, then I didn't really get that right to keep and bear arms from God," he said. "It was not bequeathed to me, it was not unalienable, right?"

Source: Politico.com, "Pruitt tapes," on 2018 Trump Administration Mar 2, 2018

On Principles & Values: Double headline - Already Done

The views Scott Pruitt states [on a 2005 radio show], in discussions peppered with references to inalienable rights and the faith of the nation's founders, are in line with those of millions of other conservative, devout Christians. But they also show stances that at times are at odds with the broader American mainstream.

Pruitt weighed in on a 2005 Supreme Court case that involved a display of the Ten Commandments at the Texas State Capitol. He argued that prohibiting such displays elevated atheist beliefs above Jewish and Christian ones.

Federal courts have interpreted the Constitution to require the separation of church and state, including a 1947 decision prohibiting New Jersey from using public funds to bus students to Catholic schools.

Pruitt disagreed, saying: "I think the most grievous threat that we have today is this imperialistic judiciary, that has it wrong on what the First Amendment's about and has an objective to create religious sterility in the public square."

Source: Politico.com, "Pruitt tapes," on 2018 Trump Administration Mar 2, 2018

On Principles & Values: Double headline - Already Done

Scott Pruitt lamented that "minority religions" were pushing Christianity out of "the public square." In the current political atmosphere, Pruitt said, "We're saying to a certain category of religion, 'No, you can't be a part of the public square, because you are the majority religion, historically. We're going to make sure that the minority religions are built up and encouraged, but the majority religion is going to be shifted aside.' Now that violates, again, individual liberty."

[However, on the same radio show in 2005], hHe frequently referred to atheism and humanism, which stresses the potential for humans to be good, as religions that enjoy more rights to expression than Christianity.

Pruitt isn't the first EPA administrator to openly express his or her religious faith, of course. His immediate predecessor, Gina McCarthy, was a Roman Catholic who visited top officials at the Vatican in 2015 as church officials worked to write Pope Francis' climate change encyclical.

Source: Politico.com, "Pruitt tapes," on 2018 Trump Administration Mar 2, 2018

The above quotations are from Columns and news articles on Politico.com.
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