Christian Climate Changers

RELIGION IN THE NEWS

A report and comment on religious trends and events being covered by the media.This week’s item is from the Orlando Sentinel February 22, 2008, with a headline:“Environmental Activism is the Focus of Evangelical Leaders.”The following are excerpts.Calling climate change the civil rights movement of the 21^st century, evangelical Christian leaders gathered at a day-long environmental conference.Global warming is an offense against God, said the Reverend Richard Cysic, vice president of the 30 million members National Assn. of Evangelicals at Northland.A church distributed, “America Needs Our Biblical Outrage”:We, as a nation will face a judgment from God if we don’t do this.Evangelicals are late comers to the environment movement, but are determined to make up for lost time, and rally around the green flag, said the Reverend Joel Hunter.We are the ones who are late to the table, Hunter said.Although the gathering was organized by evangelicals, it included speakers and participants from mainline Protestant, Catholic, Jewish and Muslim traditions.The program featured speeches, workshops, skits and even slick videos, including one with Keanu Reeves and Alanis Moriset.We have to care about the poor, said the Reverend Tri Robinson, of the Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Boise, Idaho.Bishop Thomas Winskey of the Catholic Diocese of Orlando agreed.Those of us in wealthier countries consume more, much more of the world’s resources.The poor have contributed the least to climate change, Winskey said, but the poor will suffer its worst consequences.Climate change is about being in solidarity with the poorest of the poor, they have no other advocate but us.

Tom:

We certainly take seriously what the Bible says about stewardship.There are lots of verses that really command us to take care of things.And I notice that this program here has a caring attitude.But at the same time, I think these guys are so misinformed it’s staggering!Sometimes a program comes along, and evangelicals, professing Christians jump aboard, and in too many cases it’s the Titanic, it’s going down, and we have documented that in so many ways, particularly related to psychology, and so on.But in this particular case let’s just go to the Scriptures.This Reverend Cysic says, “America needs our biblical outrage; we as a nation will face judgment from God if we don’t do this.”What’s the “this”?Correct global warming.

Dave:

Well, Tom, we did an article, I think, or more in The Berean Call.We took an unpopular position, like we did with Y2K, there was panic.I wrote a book, Y2K: A Reasoned Response to Mass Hysteria and I just said, it’s not going to happen, people, and that was one of the exciting evenings that I had.New Year’s Eve, watching the lights keeps going on all around the world from the East to the West, and so forth.

Tom:

Celebrations across by the world with regard to this new millennium?

Dave:

Right, nothing happened.But Tom, global warming—a little research would help, but it doesn’t take much, there are so many scientists who are against it.It goes in cycles.Now, for carbons, from hairspray or whatever, or the exhaust from automobiles, or from factories and so forth.I don’t remember the statistics, but one good volcano can send more into the air, more pollutants into the air in 30 seconds than the factories can do in many years.

Tom:

It’s not that we’re not in favor of clean air, we are, but to make this an issue that God is going to judge, this is taking the Bible and taking the Scriptures—well, to an absurd.

Dave:

Well, it’s not true, so they’re jumping on a bandwagon, which Al Gore—I feel sorry for Al because, you know, he wanted to get back into the limelight, and this was his big opportunity.

Tom:

Well, Dave, before we began recording here, didn’t you say you had a—on your information— your news, on your screen saver?What was that about?

Dave:

I wish I had gotten the details, but I didn’t, but we can get it.The headlines as I saw it was that—I thought somebody was suing Al Gore too, and then people were upset about this idea.You know, Tom, for some time I’ve been kidding—we’ve had a pretty cold winter here, and I come into the office and I say, I wish somebody would do something about Al Gore’s global warming, it’s just getting too cold for me!I think it said it was the coldest winter in the U.S. and all over the world.I know they had a terrible time in China—the coldest winter there.

Tom:

Well, Dave, let me add to that.We have an article from National Geographic, I don’t think it would be considered a friend of evangelicals, okay, and they noted a Russian scientist who’s been studying this and said that what’s going on here on planet earth the very similar thing is happening on Mars.So you certainly couldn’t complain that the Martians were driving SUV’s or polluting their atmosphere.

Dave:

Right, there aren’t any Martians up there, there’s not the kind of atmosphere we have, but well, it’s just not true, in my opinion, and I go by the scientists, and there are so many scientists against it.And yet, didn’t Al Gore get a Nobel Prize for this?

Tom:

Yes, he did.

Dave:

And he made a movie, was it popular?

Tom:

Yes, it was, it was propaganda, but….

Dave:

I really feel sorry for him because, you know, he was raised in an evangelical church, as near as I can tell, I don’t know whether he ever became a Christian or not.

Tom:

My concern here is, with regard to the article, we see it’s also an ecumenical movement that these evangelicals now are working with this Roman Catholic bishop who is concerned about the resources of the world, and helping the poor and so on.Is this what evangelicalism is all about?It’s becoming that.