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Evangelical leaders: fighting climate change is the right(eous) thing to doToday in Washington the Evangelical Climate Initiative released a statement signed by 86 Christian leaders calling for federal legislation “requiring sufficient economy-wide reductions in carbon dioxide emissions through cost-effective, market-based mechanisms such as a cap-and-trade program” (NYT Article, Time Article). For this pro-business and mainly conservative constituency, the statement is a departure from and a challenge to the current position on global warming in both the White House and Congress. The statement makes four claims:
The statement will be followed by a TV ad campaign and community outreach programs. With Rick Warren, famed author of The Purpose Driven Life, behind the movement as well as a who’s who of church leaders, the initiative could be an important force in the climate change debate. The issue remains a controversial one in the evangelical community, and the initiative came under quick and nasty criticism from the Interfaith Stewardship Alliance. Nonetheless, it appears that evangelicals are poised to become a major force in the climate change debates, and hopefully a catalyst for concrete action. TerraPass has already been featured on the innovative site whatwouldjesusdrive.org, and several other Christian environmental initiatives are underway. The campaign also released a nice poll showing that, like the rest of the America, evangelical christians believe climate change is taking place (75%) and that we should take action to reduce global warming, even if those actions have a high economic cost (50%). Comments
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January 2006 was reportedly the warmest on record. Recent comments by evangelicals seem to imply that they were awaiting proof, but this is a specious declaration, since scientific evidence pointing to global warming and rapid (on a geologic scale) climate change has been around for many years, with a substantial and indisputable body of evidence accumulated in just the past 5 years.
Since the fundamentalist Christians who constitute the National Association of Evangelicals are anti-science in philosophy, it follows that they would only acknowledge global climate change when it suits their purposes or when it directly impacts their lives. Far from being an act of Christian environmental stewardship and of charity for the earth, this acknowledgement from the NAE is suspect in that it likely serves some agenda item in their stated mission for political dominance.
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Let's wait a bit and see if these leaders try to push "some agenda item in their stated mission for political dominance" before we so hastily throw around those claims, shall we? Maybe they, like those of us who have a TerraPass, recognize exactly what they said in their statement: that climate change is real and could be catastrophic if not dealt with. It's also rather ridiculous to characterize them as "anti-scientific." A little bitter about something, are we?
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The NAE cannot be trusted, as evidenced by a decades-old allegiance to conservative religious institutions, during which time the NAE faithful have opposed literally every bit of progress in the USA that failed to meet their idea of a theocracy. Should you find that difficult to believe, consider that the NAE member groups believe that the Earth is a disposable commodity to be left to sinners after the true believers have been taken by God. Former Secretary of the Interior, James Watts, said as much in the 80s and nothing has changed in the fundamentalist world to encourage the use of rational thought over reactionary beliefs and behaviors. Check out the Wiki on James Watts at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_G._Watt
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