Som evangelicals, environmentalists unite by Jeff Bayard

Many evangelicals have dismissed environmentalists as liberals unconcerned about the economic impact of their policies to fight global warming. Long-standing distrust between the two camps over issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage has discouraged evangelicals from joining liberals on the environment.

But shared concerns over global warming and protecting the Earth are bringing together the two groups in ways that could make the Republican Party more eco-friendly and lead some evangelicals to vote Democratic. …

[E]vangelicals will not call themselves environmentalists.

“They are going to call themselves pro-life,” he said. “But pro-life means life in the Arctic, the life of the atmosphere, the life of all the people under the influence of climate change.” …

Much of the old guard remains unmoved.

The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the country, adopted a resolution in June denouncing environmental activism and warning that it was “threatening to become a wedge issue to divide the evangelical community.”

Focus on the Family leader James Dobson admonished evangelicals to remain focused on stopping abortion and gay marriage.

The Interfaith Stewardship Alliance, which includes Christian leaders with close ties to the Bush administration, argues that if humans are responsible for global warming, the costs of preventing it outweigh the harm it causes, said spokesman Calvin Beisner.
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A Greener US One Year After Katrina: “What Would Jesus Drive?” – International – SPIEGEL ONLINE – News By Markus Becker

Hurricane Katrina, which destroyed New Orleans and killed hundreds of people, has made US citizens far more aware of the environment. Green has become fashionable even among conservative politicians and the religious right.

Four words illustrate where debate about climate change is headed in the United States: “What would Jesus drive?”

They are part of a campaign devised by the Evangelical Environmental Network which describes itself as an environmental group of biblically orthodox Christians. Their aim is to find “new ways to love your neighbor as we strive together to reduce fuel consumption and pollution from the cars, trucks, and SUVs we drive.”

That may sound cute but the US government should be paying close attention to campaigns such as this. The sudden eco-awareness of the religious right, which culminated in a demand for stricter environmental laws in February, is just one of many indications of a growing environmental awareness in the United States. …

The US oil industry still occasionally runs disinformation campaigns such as “Carbon Dioxide – – they call it pollution, we call it life” by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free trade lobby group.
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Right cross by Cate Terwilliger

[I]n this election season, Christians who have claimed Calvary as right-wing real estate face an increasingly powerful opponent that originates outside any “gay agenda” to destroy the traditional nuclear family and with it — in the view of Focus on the Family founder James Dobson — Western civilization.

This “enemy” comes from within. It’s another Christian army, one whose vision of Jesus Christ and biblical truth could scarcely be more different than that of the religious right. …

Bush and his ilk, [Pastor Robin] Meyers told the peace rally, are “make-believe Christians.”

“I have watched as the faith I love has been taken over by fundamentalists who claim to speak for Jesus, but whose actions are anything but Christian,” he said. “I’m a great believer in moral values, but we need to have a discussion in this country about what constitutes a moral value. …

“I’m tired of people thinking that, because I’m a Christian, I must be a supporter of President Bush, or that because I favor civil rights and gay rights, I must not be a person of faith.” …

A group of Democratic leaders, including Tennessee Sen. Roy Herron, just this week tried to make a connection by launching FaithfulDemocrats.com. The mission of the “online Christian community” is to help readers “put their faith to work for the common good, holding our nation and the Democratic Party to their highest ideals.”

Then there’s the recently formed Network of Spiritual Progressives, whose statement of purpose challenges “the misuse of religion, God and spirit by the religious right.” A committed faith, the group says, should manifest itself not in moral rigidity, but in activism aimed at bringing about peace and social justice, alleviating poverty and protecting the environment. …

“The religious right has always been moralistic,” White says. “Usually, they’ve focused on genital sins, but there have been times when other issues dominated — like alcohol, Sunday store closings, divorce. …

“But people on the religious right like to shop in Wal-Mart on Sunday, and they like their beer when they watch football, and they get divorced at higher rates than atheists do. So you can’t condemn that; it won’t sell.

“You can sell something that people are not. You can say, “The problem is outside; it’s other than me.’ Terrorists, communists, homosexuals, liberals — whatever it may be. But it’s someone who’s not me.” …

Some liberal Christians interpret the current rift among believers as the result of radically different responses to the anxieties of modern life.

“The religious right responds to modernity as a threat, and the best response is to look back to a time that seemed to be, at least in collective memory, idyllic and safe,” Broadbent says.
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Global warming film unites preachers and politics By Carey Gillam, Reuters

Evangelical Christian leaders have embraced the cause and are now helping spur momentum before both midterm elections in November and the 2008 presidential election.

“In the past, white evangelicals have been largely Republican and the environment has traditionally been a Democratic issue … so there are political implications in terms of alliances,” said Joel Hunter, who serves on the National Association of Evangelicals board and as senior pastor of the 12,000-member Northland Church in Longwood, Florida.

“But there is no doubt about the mandate of scripture here. We need to do what we can to care for the Earth,” Hunter said by telephone. “We want to lead people into the arena where it will have an affect on how they vote.” …

[A]ccording to a July survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, more than 70 percent of people of faith polled believed global warming was occurring.

But the movement to turn that devotion into a political power base on global warming is only now getting under way. Advocates said they intended to put pressure on both Republicans and Democrats to be more active in seeking to reduce global warming.

A national rollout of “The Great Warming” at U.S. cinemas starts in October. The plan also calls for more than 500 sermons on global warming and lists of questions for church members to ask political candidates. …

“I am what you call a green Republican … and there are a number of us out there,” said Troy Helming, founder of the Kansas-based Krystal Planet alternative energy company, which also backs the film. “It is unfortunate that the party … has kind of lost its way in terms of environmental issues.”

mjh’s blog — scripture-based justification for anti-environmentalism