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Christians and Climate Change, July 16, 2006
Find out more about Matthew Sleeth and his book Serve God, Save the Planet at www.chelseagreen.com/2006/items/servegod."
Climate change and the church
Evangelicals among those who see stewardship of Earth as God’s mandate
DesMoines Register
Shirley Ragsdale
July 16, 2006The U.S. government does not officially accept that global warming is scientifically proven, but people of faith — both in conservative and liberal denominations across the country — increasingly are working to address it.
This new faith-based environmental movement does not break down along ideological or denominational lines, according to Paul Gorman, executive director of the National Religious Partnership on the Environment.
“This is not about red and blue religion,” Gorman said. “It’s happening across the full spectrum of religious life. It is just as strong and as real among conservative Christians as it is among religious progressives.” Caring for the Earth is not a new Christian tenet, but many people of faith are feeling an urgent need for religious communities to act.
“In the last 10 years, our society and religious traditions have gone from a state of widespread ignorance about global warming to widespread awareness,” said the Rev. Benjamine Webb, priest for St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Cedar Falls. “Today, virtually everyone gets it.”
The 85 evangelical leaders’ call to action on climate change earlier this year signaled a shift in the conservative Christian community, he said. “The growing evangelical response to global warming, especially given their influence in the Republican Party, is very significant,” Webb said. “It’s also a healthy sign to see them acting not merely as a handmaiden for the party line, but serving as a cultural critic at this point.”
On Feb. 8, a group of influential evangelical leaders released a statement expressing a biblically driven commitment to curb global warming and calling on the government to enact national legislation to reduce carbon dioxide emissions that are contributing to global climate change.
The document issued by the Evangelical Climate Initiative was signed by leaders of evangelical Christian denominations, mega-church pastors, Christian college presidents, and CEOs of major evangelical world relief organizations, including Rick Warren, author of “The Purpose Driven Life,” Rich Stearns, president of World Vision, and Todd Bassett, national commander of the Salvation Army.
“I believe strongly that this is a bipartisan issue,” said Bruce Murphy, president of the conservative Christian Northwestern College, in Orange City. Murphy was among those 85 faith leaders.
“Conservative or liberal, protection and wise use of the natural world is critical to our future,” Murphy said. “Furthermore, as one who believes God created the universe and has charged humans to care for it, it is a religious duty.”
“I do know the 'environmental movement’ is sometimes viewed as controversial and problematic, but I believe solid information, creative appreciation and honest give and take can prove fruitful even when honest seekers disagree,” he said.
Jennie LeGates, who helped put together a “Caring for Creation” program for Ecumenical Ministries of Iowa, said climate change only recently gained credence among many people of faith.
“As recently as 2000, the people we were talking to still considered global warming as something of a leftist plot,” she said.
LeGates, of Ames, said the Caring for Creation “program reached 1,000 congregations in Iowa, but was slow to catch on. Then we had Hurricane Katrina. Gas prices spiked. Suddenly, it was a perfect 'gee whiz’ moment. People of faith realized that maybe climate change is our problem, too.”
Under the new green gospel, most frequently characterized as “Caring for Creation,” Iowa congregations and denominations are taking a variety of actions to become better stewards of God’s Earth:
- After a yearlong study, Walnut Creek United Methodist Church social justice team has immersed the congregation in a congregational environmental action plan. Families were encouraged to take an environmental pledge at the conclusion of an education and river cleanup day in May. The church has resolved to stop using chemicals on its lawn, is mowing less of it and has contracted with a farmer who will cut and bale the grass growing on the rest of church acreage.
- The Peace Committee of Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ co-sponsored the showing of “The Great Warming,” a documentary examining evidence that human activities are provoking an unprecedented era of atmospheric warming and climate events. Several hundred people applauded the movie’s religious environmental message. The movie was also screened at Prairiewoods Spirituality Center, Cedar Rapids; the national synod for Reformed Church in America at Pella; and First Lutheran Church, Decorah.
- Faith Lutheran Church in Clive is expanding its building. When church leaders met with the architect last Sunday, members of the building committee advocated for a “very green building, one that was carbon dioxide neutral.” The congregation is striving for a design that may incorporate thermal heating and cooling, high energy efficiency and use of recycled materials.
- A newly formed Iowa Interfaith Power & Light organization is working to mitigate global climate change by helping individual congregations — churches, synagogues, mosques and worship centers — reduce fossil fuel use and overall energy use. The group’s steering committee includes Catholic, Evangelical Lutheran, Episcopal and Muslim leaders.
- In January, Iowa faith leaders lobbied the Iowa Legislature and called on Iowans “to be informed advocates with Iowa’s congressional delegation for national and international policies that will ensure that we protect God’s creation and God’s children from the significant threat posed by global warming.” The statement was signed by leaders of the Catholic, Presbyterian, Church of the Brethren, United Church of Christ, Evangelical Lutheran, United Methodist and Episcopal faiths.
The political impact of these and similar efforts is significant in shaping local, state, national and international climate change policy, according to the Climate Institute.
The faith message is wrapped around values, according to Nancy Lister-Settle of Dallas Center, hunger action enabler of the Presbytery of Des Moines. She teaches environmental science advanced placement courses at the Des Moines Central Academy.
“What kind of values do we want to impart to the next generation?” she said. “The faith community can encourage people to take a hard look at what they value. There are choices. Will the congregation use $150,000 to refurbish its organ or use the money to help the poor in underdeveloped countries who may bear the burden of policies enacted to reverse global warming?”
Making moral environmental choices is incorporated in the Walnut Creek United Methodist Church’s action plan.
“The conversation about climate change had already started, but we wanted to put legs on it, to turn conversation into action,” said the Rev. Susan Guy, Walnut Creek minister of service, social justice and adult ministry. “People have a new awareness about how much we contribute to destruction of the environment through our own personal habits. We asked them to think about what they wanted to do to be better stewards in their own corner of the world.”
Phil Leino of Des Moines, a member of the Caring for Creation ministry team of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, felt his denomination had a spiritual disconnect when it came to nature and the environment.
“I didn’t think the Lutheran Church gave a hang,” Leino said. “Then in 2003, a friend steered me to the Caring for Creation program. It’s a very deep and well-thought-out piece of Bible-based theology. With global warming coming to the forefront, I see the program bearing fruit. Lutherans are talking about how to incorporate creation care into their church and their lives.”
Some faith groups still discount scientific evidence of human-induced climate change. Last week, the Southern Baptist Convention passed, without debate, a statement on environmentalism and evangelicals that positions the denomination against “solutions based on questionable science, which bar access to natural resources and unnecessarily restrict economic development.”
The statement was nonbinding and likely does not reflect the views of Iowa Southern Baptists, according to Jimmy Barrentine of Urbandale, executive director and treasurer of the Baptist Convention of Iowa. He said he could not speak for all Baptists, but he believes most people “at our churches, especially in Iowa, know the Earth and love the Earth as a gift from God.”
“We are stewards over the Earth,” Barrentine said. “God meant for us to take care of it and make sure that we preserve it for our children and grandchildren and those who come after them. The farmer loves the earth, knows what it feels and smells like and doesn’t want anybody messing it up.”
Matthew Sleeth, author of “Serve God, Save the Planet: A Christian Call to Action,” said there is an increasing belief on the part of conservative Christians that it is wrong to believe that God gave man dominion over the Earth and with it permission to use it as he pleases.
If the End Times are near, as some use as an excuse for exploiting the Earth’s resources, “one would think people would be intent on doing God’s will — being good stewards of God’s creation — instead of trashing the Earth,” Sleeth said.
“I am convinced that as 30 million evangelicals and all those who consider themselves people of faith grow in their understanding that God holds us accountable for care of his creation, we will begin to see positive (environmental) changes on an unprecedented scale.”
PEOLE OF FAITH SPEAK
“My spiritual 'Aha!’ response to care of creation has grown greatly over the past 15 years that I have been a member of Clinton Trees Forever. After many years of planting trees and caring for trees through Trees Forever projects, I find myself seeing trees as friends. I am sad when I see a tree poorly cared for and meet the Creator anew at the beauty of a healthy tree.”
—Sister Mary Ann Phelan, Sisters of St. Francis, Clinton.
“As an individual who believes in God the creator, how do we not have a profound responsibility to care for God’s gift of creation? People are cognizant of caring for and the value of family heirlooms (through) the history and sentimental attachment. The same importance should be attached to the world that sustains us, sustains life in all forms.”
—Katie Tippins of Des Moines, who attends St. Mary of Nazareth Catholic Church.
“From a practical standpoint alone, it’s imperative that we begin to change the way we are abusing creation, but for me, it’s also a matter of the sacred trust we’ve been given to care for God’s creation.”
—Eloise M. Cranke, a member of First United Methodist Church of Des Moines.
“I believe that God’s command to Adam and Eve in the garden about not eating the fruit of the tree might have been because plucking the fruit was bad for the tree rather than because eating the fruit was bad for the people. There are plants that shouldn’t have their fruit harvested for several seasons. So I think it is possible that the first sin was a sin against nature — the sin of not adequately protecting the creation.”
—Jana Neff of Ankeny, an Episcopalian, is a signatory to the Iowa Sustainable Energy Charter, a citizen initiative that promotes the beneficial impact a sustainable, renewable energy system can have on global climate change.
“I recently created eight pew torches for St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church with materials salvaged from church pews that were to be thrown away. I came to this project to serve the church and God by giving something back, using the talent I was given … I liked the idea of reusing something from the church.”
—Jonathan Benson of West Des Moines
“The Quran instructs Muslims to take care of the Earth, and I frequently preach about the mandate. Caring for creation is nothing new to Muslims; there are many verses in the Quran that teach us there are no exceptions. We have to be on guard. We must fight pollution and act against global warming. It’s everybody’s responsibility. ”
—Ibrahim Dremali, imam for the Des Moines Islamic Center.