Evangelicals Wrestling Their Demons on Global Warming
I was very disappointed recently when the NAE, an organisation representing millions of evangelicals in the US whose spokesperson, Rich Cizik, has featured on this blog a few times, failed to agree on a firm position on climate change. The Washington Post reported that a letter from 20 evangelical leaders, "a Who's Who of the Religious Right" including James Dobson and Chuck Colson, had been decisive in convincing the NAE that there was no unanimous position on the subject in the evangelical community.
But now the good news. The NYT is reporting that 86 Evangelical leaders have come together around the Evangelical Climate Initiative. They say they have been convinced that climate change is a problem and they want to address it. They plan to run TV and radio ads in key states, grassroots campaigns in the churches and events at Christian colleges and they have a website with the full details.
The only downside so far is their language which favours "cost-effective, market-based mechanisms" suggesting a pro-business approach. This is not necessarily a bad thing but might indicate an unwillingness to stand by the issue if it requires personal cost. We'll see.
Though Cizik lobbied leaders to sign on to the initiative, neither he nor the president of the NAE signed. The president of the NAE, Ted Haggard, said he couldn't sign as it would be seen as the NAE endorsing the initiative though he said his personal view was that there was no doubt change was needed.
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this story scribbled by jim at 3:24 am
3 Comments:
It's an encouraging step forward. I wouldn't expect unanimity from the very diverse American evangelical scene.
But let's hope that it has some impact on the Bush administration. I had heard that evangelical church leaders were very influential in getting the US to approve the compromise text of the UN World Summit declaration, in the face of Amabassador Bolton's absolute opposition and hostility. Maybe they'll be able to do something similar here.
Ranted by
Anonymous, at 7:57 am
jim, great blog. i've been reading through various posts you've made, and i applaud your thinking. later, nick
Ranted by
Sib, at 9:47 am
Jim,
I heard George Marsden speak yesterday about the relationship between US evangelicals and politics. He's a historian of US evangelicanism, and seems to know his stuff. He argued that there is no real link between the pre-millenarian theology of most on the religious right (which says that the end is coming soon so there's no point in getting involved in worldly issues) and their politics (which aim to dominate worldly issues).
He commented that because evangelicals are mobilized into politics through their cultural networks rather than through their theology, there is no apparent reason why environmentalism couldn't be a major issue for them. Only it isn't at the moment. For example, in the 1970s, leading evangelicals were supporting abortion rights. Then they changed their mind. Maybe we could change them again....
P.S. He also said that Jim Wallis "has no grassroots support". Let's see.
Ranted by
Anonymous, at 12:28 pm
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