Republican Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum doesn’t hide his deep disdain for environmental protection.

As Santorum gains media traction after three unofficial primary wins, the outspoken Catholic has been increasingly vocal about his strong dislike of environmentalists. Speaking at a rally this past weekend, Santorum called Obama’s environmental policies a “phony theology” designed to “give more power to the government.”

“When you have a worldview that elevates the Earth above man and says that we can’t take those resources because we’re going to harm the Earth; by things that frankly are just not scientifically proven, for example, the politicization of the whole global warming debate — this is all an attempt to, you know, to centralize power and to give more power to the government.”

Santorum often expresses his strong dislike for environmental protection within a religious context, saying that humans were “put on this earth … for our benefit, not for the earth’s benefit.” However, this belief is completely out of step with mainstream religious leaders — including the Pope — who have called on world leaders to address climate change and other pressing environmental issues in order “protect all creation.”

Santorum’s stance on environmental issues stems from a passage in Genesis 1:28, which reads: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Expressing his interpretation of this passage at a campaign rally recently, Santorum explained that “we were put on this Earth as creatures of God to have dominion over the Earth…. We should not let the vagaries of nature destroy what we have helped create.” He also said that environmentalism is “a worldview that elevates the Earth above man and says that we can’t take those resources because we’re going to harm the Earth.”

However, Santorum confuses this Genesis passage as a command for exploitation, extraction and waste — when in fact the Bible clearly explains that the earth is a gift to be taken care of, not fouled.

Stewardship of the earth is not just a strong theme in Genesis. It’s a very strong theme throughout the entire Old Testament. So what other messages does the Bible deliver on the importance of environmental protection? Here are some of the best:

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In an address on energy policy at the University of Miami, President Barack Obama mocked the GOP drumbeat for a drill-baby-drill response to rising gas prices. Noting that “it’s an election year,” Obama alluded to Newt Gingrich’s promise to deliver $2.50 gas with a return of drill-everywhere platform. Obama described the “three-point plans for $2 gas”: “Step one is drill, step two is drill, and step three is keep drilling.”

“The American people aren’t stupid,” Obama said. Drill, baby, drill is “bumper sticker, not a strategy to solve our energy challenge”:

I mean, the American people aren’t stupid. They know that’s not a plan – especially since we’re already drilling. That’s a bumper sticker. It’s not a strategy to solve our energy challenge. That’s a strategy to get politicians through an election. You know there are no quick fixes to this problem. You know we can’t just drill our way to lower gas prices. If we’re going to take control of our energy future, and can start avoiding these annual gas price spikes that happen every year when the economy starts getting better, world demand starts increasing, turmoil in the Middle East or some other parts of the world, if we’re going to stop being at the mercy of these world events, then we need a sustained, all-of-the-above strategy that develops every available source of American energy – oil, gas, wind, solar, and nuclear, and biofuels, and more. We need to keep developing the technology that allows us to use less oil in our cars and trucks, less energy for our buildings and our plants and our factories. That’s the strategy we’re pursuing, and that’s the only real solution to this challenge.

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In his speech, Obama also noted the role of Wall Street speculators who now dominate oil markets and called for an end to the “outrageous” billions in tax subsidies the massively profitable oil companies receive from the American people.