Posted on 01/17/2007 8:44:59 PM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - Saying they share a moral purpose, a group of evangelicals and scientists said Wednesday they will work together to convince the nation's leaders that global warming is real.
The Rev. Rich Cizik, public policy director for the National Association of Evangelicals, and Nobel-laureate Eric Chivian, director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, were among 28 signers of a statement that demands urgent changes in values, lifestyles and public policies to avert disastrous changes in climate.
"God will judge us for destroying the Creation. Therefore, we as evangelicals have a responsibility to be even more vigilant than others," Cizik told a news conference.
"Science can be an ally in helping us understand what faith is telling us," he said. "We will not allow the Creation to be degraded, destroyed by human folly."
Among the project's supporters are Edward O. Wilson, a two-time Pulitzer prize-winning scientist and author; James Hansen, a prominent NASA climatologist; and Calvin B. DeWitt, president of the Academy of Evangelical Scientists and Ethicists.
Chivian said evangelicals and scientists are not as odd a couple as they may seem.
"We discovered that we were both speaking from our hearts and our minds. We found that we really like each other," he said.
Not all evangelicals were on board.
The Interfaith Stewardship Alliance, formed by evangelicals who say scientific evidence counters claims of climate change, derided Wednesday's announcement as "just another attempt to create the impression of growing consensus among evangelicals about global warming. There is no such growing consensus."
The alliance charged that the National Association of Evangelicals' board never approved the new collaboration. The NAE said its board approved a "dialogue," but no specific actions.
The new effort represents the boldest evangelical step yet into the world of environmental activism.
To start, the coalition is meeting with congressional leaders, both Democrat and Republican, organizing a summit on environmental issues and developing public relations tools such as a "Creation Care" Bible study guide.
It also has requested a meeting with President Bush. Sens. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record), D-Ill., Richard Lugar (news, bio, voting record), R-Ind., and Olympia Snowe (news, bio, voting record), R-Maine, all signaled their support Wednesday for the collaboration of evangelicals and scientists.
Their pairing grew from a retreat last year at which all sides agreed that human behavior and public policy have put the environment at risk.
In the past, conservative Christians who embraced that cause have met significant resistance.
The Rev. Joel Hunter of Northland megachurch in Longwood, Fla., refused to become president of the Christian Coalition of America last year because he said the group would not expand its agenda to include the environment and poverty. Hunter has now endorsed the new project.
On the Net:
National Association of Evangelicals:
http://www.nae.net/
Harvard Center for Health and the Global Environment: http://chge.med.harvard.edu
... demands urgent changes in values, lifestyles and public policies to avert disastrous changes in climate.
Interesting, Dr. Joel called himself a Liberal four times during his Christmas service.
"..Ted Haggard, President of the National Association of Evangelicals and founder of New Life Church, resigned his positions at his church and the National Association of Evangelicals on November 2nd, 2006 following allegations he maintained a three-year-long sexual relationship with a male escort, Mike Jones. It is also alleged Haggard used methamphetamine during his visits with Jones.[2].."
I like Glenn Beck's solution: BLOW UP THE SUN! Problem solved.
I agree the earth is warming, but if emissions are the reason the US is not the primary culprit. We clean up our messes.
I recall reading somewhere that true students of Scripture become wise, not tools and fools.
Proverbs, perhaps?
(yes definitely Proverbs and elsewhere, too!)
The left always, always, always HIJACKS the identity of groups - it gets a few (Blacks, Vets, Priests, Latinos, and now "evengelicals") to take a leftist position and then uses that few to create an organization carrying that group identity lable ("African Americans against the war", "Latinos for Open Borders", etc, etc. etc.).
The purpose is twofold - use the media and the public's ignorance to present their group as representing all persons who could be identified in that group and, use the media again to formulate the reporting so that those who are not part of the group are made to feel like they are "out" of the majority of their group and should join the others that have joined the left's line of march.
The "facts" of the cause (global warming, poverty, "healthcare", whatever) are then presented as givens, not as the leftist suppositions that they really are (like minimum wage laws help the "poor", and there are XX million Americans without "healthcare"); leading intentionally to leftist conclusions about the best remedies.
They did this with the "mainstream" churches in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, and now they are working on the "Evangelicals".
Look at the facts and the proposed remedies, therein lies the identity of the kind of politics, Marxist or American conservative, behind any proposal.
If they make algorejr guve up his SUV, can I have it??
The best information we have suggests that global warming (increase in global temperatures since the last ice age) began some 12-15,000 years ago. The climate has fluctuated continually for billions of years; the latest upturn is nothing new (it is matched by a similar "global warming" on Mars!).
As evangelicals generally disregard the findings of science, especially the data showing an old earth, on what basis are they joining with the global warming advocates? What is the timeline they propose for this warming?
All of this sounds more political than scientific to me. In fact it sounds like junk "science" on one side and creation "science" on the other.
See tagline below.
Don't like it?
Its called TOUGH LOVE. Use your BRAIN.
I wonder how many of these "holier than thou's" and "smarter than thou's" have given up modern conveniences to help the climate.
Bingo! Snakeoil salesman come to mind!
"Follow the money."
Yes, we should do that, but when it comes to the left "the money" is not always immediate and sometimes never apparent, for, for them it is often not about the money, just the power.
Now even the weather is subject to political and religious BS. Is there nothing sacred from these fame scroungers anymore? People these days really suck or are really bored.
So, it's an ecumenical council of True Believers?
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