Dr. Joel Hunter, President of the Christian Coalition and Pastor of the 12,000-member Northland Church in Longwood, FL, Dr. Paul De Vries, National Association of Evangelicals board member and President of New York Theological Seminary, and Rev. Gerald Durley, Pastor of Providence Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta and civil rights leader held a teleconference last Thursday to "address the importance of this issue to their communities and will take questions from reporters about the Statement, the Call to Action, and the potential implications of both on the American religious and political landscape."
From the press release (attached to an email):
Prominent Christian evangelical leaders will host a press teleconference Thursday to announce The Great Warming Call to Action campaign to convince people of faith that creation care and environmental stewardship must be a top policy priority in their communities. The leaders on the call will announce extensive plans to promote a new Statement — signed by high-profile religious leaders from across the faith and ideological spectrum, key policy-makers, celebrities, environmental groups, and many of the most respected scientists in the world — calling on our country to take immediate action to address climate change. Plans to promote the Statement and Call to Action include airing ads on Christian radio stations across the country and widely distributing the statement to people of faith through churches and national and local religious organizations.
The Call to Action precedes the release of The Great Warming in Regal Cinemas on November 4. (Hat tip) You can sign up for the Call to Action here. It reads as follows:
The world’s scientists are in agreement: climate change is real, and we are largely responsible. America’s religious institutions, corporations, environmental and political leaders are in agreement – we must recognize our moral responsibility to be good stewards of the Earth today and for all future generations. Out of this sense of responsibility, we call on our country to take immediate action to address climate change.
I think "largely responsible" is a stretch and there is substantial disagreement among scientists, but on balance it’s better than what I’ve seen lately. The rest of the statement is right on. Added my name this morning.
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It’s easy to fall into the pseudo-moral trap that is global warming. There are plenty of folks who treat climate change like a religion (which it isn’t) and who say it’s the cause of everything evil in the world (which it isn’t). Global warming zealots are using religious terms like "penance" and establishing greenhouse gas indulgences. Frankly, it’s crass and it’s Pharisaical.
Ecology is a moral value, but not in the way the world thinks of it. Most in the climate agenda refuse to understand air pollution as a byproduct of original sin that affects humanity as a whole. Read Romans 8:12-25 again if it’s been a while. Tying the frustration of creation (i.e. pollution) to original sin and the redemption of man to the redemption ofreation is clearly biblical, but it’s a slippery slope which most climate champions are not willing to approach.
Perhaps we need a global warming 12-step program.
The earth’s climate is a complicated thing, and we have to admit that much of it is out of our hands. CO2 levels rise and fall, and ultimately the world is in God’s hands since He made it. That will be very hard for some folks to do!
Once we admit our helplessness, then we have to admit our failure to do what we could do to limit any excess man-made greenhouse gasses we’ve been putting into the air through selfish habits. We make a fearless inventory of ourselves. We thank God for his blessings in creation, and the creativity he gives us to build cities and methods move about the world, and make amends where God convicts. We ask God to forgive us individually and corporately. We pray and ask Godਊs to what our next move should be, and build these efforts into the actions of our corporations and our governments. We do what is right as individual Children of God.
The solution to whatever man’s impact is on the climate is for a Christians to step up to the plate in fearless loveਊnd act like the redeemed people that we are. The rest need to admit their sin and ask Christ to come into their hearts.
And if the fear of global warming drives folks to the Cross, that’s fine with me.
