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From the pulpit, mostly silence
To the extent it has reached religion's grassroots, discussion about climate
change is being generated more by blogs such as "God's Politics," and by the innate curiosity of
individual Christians, than by sermons preached from the pulpits of houses of
worship. Curiously, this appears to be true within the evangelical community as
well.
Ralph Weitz sits on the advisory board of the Cornwall Alliance (previously
the Interfaith Stewardship Alliance), one of the principals in the ongoing
evangelical debate over global warming, and in that capacity has testified
before Congress. And yet, Weitz concedes that in his role as stewardship pastor
of the 4,000-member Immanuel Bible Church in Springfield, Va., the only
environmental program he has promoted has been the planting of 70 trees by the
congregation's Boy Scouts.
Where the environment is concerned among the rank and file, Weitz says, "We
evangelicals are just waking up to it."
So are individual members of other denominations, as they come to grips with
the issue on their own.
Matt Patton, a graduate student in counseling and real estate investor who
lives in Thomasville, Ga., says the experience of being born again six years ago
sharpened his pre-existing environmental consciousness by lending "a little bit
more importance to the idea of stewardship."
His faith also influenced development decisions he made when building a home
recently, Patton says, "like cutting trees down or not cutting down trees."
Those Christians who haven't yet connected religion and the environment the
way Patton and others have will have a difficult time ignoring the issue, given
all the rhetoric that's being generated on high.
Courting conservative ire
The political dimension of the debate was illustrated recently by Sen. James
Inhofe (R.-Okla.), who said the issue of global warming was being used to
"divide and conquer" evangelicals and divert them from more important "core
values issues."
His comments, aimed at organizations such as the National Association of
Evangelicals and the Evangelical Environmental Network, which have embraced
climate change as a cause, followed an equally strong broadside delivered in
March by 25 social conservative leaders. They complained that by promoting the
issue the NAE "and others are using the global warming controversy to shift the
emphasis away from the great moral issues of our time, notably the sanctity of
human life, the integrity of marriage and the teaching of sexual abstinence and
morality to our children."
So, ask evangelism's hard-core social conservative bloc "What would Jesus
drive?" and they're likely not to answer. To them, the question is moot and
better not asked at all.
A Christian call to action
Not all evangelicals are wary of joining the debate. The groups that
coalesced around the "What Would Jesus Drive?" campaign in 2002 made an even
more pointed appeal in 2006 as the Environmental Climate Initiative when they
issued "Climate Change: An Evangelical Call to Action." That document, endorsed
by 85 evangelical leaders, contained certain key assertions, including:
Global warming is real and the evidence points overwhelmingly toward man as
the culprit.
The consequences of climate change will be significant, and will hit the
poor the hardest in the form of drought, more violent storms, heat waves and
rising water levels.
Christian moral convictions demand an urgent response to the problems posed
by global warming.
Wrapped up in this environmental view is "creation care," the notion that man
is the steward of God's creation and should nurture rather than exploit it. In
its "Declaration on the Care of Creation," the Evangelical Environmental Network
puts forth the view that man has been a dismal environmental steward: "Our
God-given stewardly talents have been warped from their intended purpose...We
have ignored our creaturely limits and have used the earth with greed rather
than with care."
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