"The earth is the Lord's. Psalm 24 basically says the earth is God's property. We have been given the privilege and responsibility of living on earth to see it isn't ruined"
About this Quote
Allen Johnson’s line takes a familiar Bible verse and turns it into a locker-room-ready environmental ethic: ownership implies accountability. By anchoring his claim in Psalm 24, he skips the usual policy vocabulary and goes straight to a moral frame lots of Americans recognize. “The earth is the Lord’s” isn’t just piety here; it’s a legal metaphor. If the planet is “property,” then humans aren’t owners with unlimited rights, they’re tenants, caretakers, maybe even employees. That subtle downgrade of human authority is the point.
The phrasing “privilege and responsibility” is doing strategic work. “Privilege” flatters the listener’s sense of purpose; “responsibility” narrows the escape routes. You don’t get to enjoy creation and shrug at the consequences. The line “to see it isn’t ruined” is plainspoken and deliberately non-technical, which fits an athlete speaking to a broad audience: no carbon math, no partisan triggers, just a commonsense boundary. Ruin is a word with emotional weight; it evokes irreversible damage, not abstract “impact.”
The subtext is also a rebuttal to a certain religious misread: that divine ownership means humans can use the earth however they want because it’s “for us.” Johnson flips that logic. If it belongs to God, trashing it isn’t freedom; it’s negligence. Coming from an athlete, the message carries an extra layer of embodied credibility: people who make their living through discipline and stewardship of the body understand training as care, not entitlement. He’s pitching environmental care as moral practice, not lifestyle branding.
The phrasing “privilege and responsibility” is doing strategic work. “Privilege” flatters the listener’s sense of purpose; “responsibility” narrows the escape routes. You don’t get to enjoy creation and shrug at the consequences. The line “to see it isn’t ruined” is plainspoken and deliberately non-technical, which fits an athlete speaking to a broad audience: no carbon math, no partisan triggers, just a commonsense boundary. Ruin is a word with emotional weight; it evokes irreversible damage, not abstract “impact.”
The subtext is also a rebuttal to a certain religious misread: that divine ownership means humans can use the earth however they want because it’s “for us.” Johnson flips that logic. If it belongs to God, trashing it isn’t freedom; it’s negligence. Coming from an athlete, the message carries an extra layer of embodied credibility: people who make their living through discipline and stewardship of the body understand training as care, not entitlement. He’s pitching environmental care as moral practice, not lifestyle branding.
Quote Details
| Topic | Bible |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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