Environmentalists Get New Ally, January 21

The Courier-Journal
Sunday, January 21, 2007
By Peter Smith

Evangelicals seek action to fight global warming

A political climate change lies behind a new statement by scientists and evangelical Christian activists, who are calling for action on global warming and other ecological crises, supporters say.

The statement, issued Wednesday in Washington, declared that the Earth is "seriously imperiled by human behavior" and called on Christians to target "a cascading set of problems such as climate change, habitat destruction, pollution and species extinctions."

"This is a sign the momentum is picking up, that Christians are realizing more and more this is not a special-interest issue, it's an issue that affects all of humanity and the goodness of creation," said Norman Wirzba, a philosophy professor at Georgetown College in Kentucky who writes on the relationship between religion and the environment.

Richard Cizik, a vice president of the National Association of Evangelicals -- an umbrella group including a wide spectrum of conservative Protestants -- helped organize last week's announcement along with scientists. The statement seeks to bring together groups that have long been at odds over such topics as evolution.

The statement does not contain specific recommendations -- such as curbs on using fossil fuels. But Cizik said the point of the statement is to promote general principles that could lead to policies. "We know enough to go beyond debating endlessly whether climate change is occurring," something he said is "settled fact."

Matthew Sleeth, a Wilmore, Ky., author who attended the announcement, said it's "all great to have these proclamations, but eventually it has to result in change, and people have to change their activities."

Sleeth, author of the book, Serve God, Save the Planet, is a former emergency room doctor who became involved in environmental issues in part after seeing patients get sick and even die from air pollution.

There is little scientific debate about whether humans are causing the planet to warm, with many leading scientists saying greenhouse gas emissions are playing a larger role than natural cycles. Questions remain, however, over how much and how rapidly climate change will occur, and what, if anything, people can do to prevent or adapt to any potential catastrophic upheavals.

But some evangelicals still question the cause of climate change.

"I do agree with the scientists that there is global warming... The question becomes, what percentage of the impact is caused by human carbon-dioxide emissions?" said Gregg Allison, an associate professor of Christian theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville. He is among evangelicals who signed a statement last year questioning the human impact on global warming.

He said he agrees with a minority of scientists who attribute warming mainly to natural causes. He said poor people would be hurt the most by efforts to radically shift economies away from fossil fuels.

He said he does agree with last week's statement calling for greater care of the environment and said there are other reasons to reduce the use of fossil fuels -- such as preserving them for future generations.

Evangelical Christians are a core constituency of the Republican Party. Neither have traditionally favored strict environmental regulations.

But concern over global warming is prompting "new alliances," said John Green, a senior fellow with the Washington-based Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

"It's really a two-front war," Green said. "The first front is to convince their co-religionists this is the way to go. … The second front is the political front," to pressure politicians into approving new policies.

Green said Republicans would be more receptive to proposals emphasizing market forces and private initiatives than lengthy codes of regulations.

The Rev. Kevin Smith, pastor of Watson Memorial Baptist Church in Louisville and first vice president of the Kentucky Baptist Convention, said that for many evangelical pastors in Kentucky, global warming is "probably not on their radar screen, and not (because) of any negativity on their part." He said there is less environmental awareness in this part of the country.

Smith said he's still weighing "conflicting arguments" on global warming but that living in industrial New Jersey gave him strong evidence of how people can harm the environment. "There's so much gook going up into the air," he said.

Nancy Jo Kemper of the Kentucky Council of Churches, a coalition of moderate and liberal Christian denominations that has issued calls for stronger environmental regulations, said she's encouraged by a growing evangelical emphasis on "creation care."

"It is a unifying area in which religious groups, not merely evangelical Christians, can work together, and that may open the door to better dialogue and understanding on a raft of other things," she said.

Cizik said before his group does any lobbying, houses of worship "ought to make themselves energy-efficient first and do what they can do by way of personal example."

Campbellsville University in Kentucky is doing just that -- building a chapel using geothermal heating. "We had better start paying closer attention to what human behavior is doing," said Michael Carter, president of the Baptist-affiliated school.

Reporter Peter Smith can be reached at (502) 582-4469. Reporter James Bruggers contributed to this story.