Conservative Christian Leaders Call Climate Change a "Distraction"
by Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, St. Louis, MO 
on 03. 5.07
Is there a moral imperative to address climate change? Former Vice President Al Gore argued this point in An Inconvenient Truth. Not everyone's convinced, though: a group of American conservative Christian leaders, including James Dobson (pictured), Gary L. Bauer, Tony Perkins and Paul Weyrich, sent a letter to the National Association of Evangelicals on Thursday that chastised the group for its recent focus on the climate crisis. The signers of the letter argued that NAE's vice president for government affairs, the Rev. Richard Cizik, is diverting the faithful from more pressing moral matters, particularly abortion and homosexuality. According to the New York Times, the letter represents a growing rift between established leadership on the Christian right, and "...challengers who are pushing to expand the evangelical movement’s agenda to include issues like climate change and human rights."
“We have observed,” the letter says, “that Cizik and others are using the global warming controversy to shift the emphasis away from the great moral issues of our time.”Those issues, the signers say, are a need to campaign against abortion and same-sex marriage and to promote “the teaching of sexual abstinence and morality to our children.”
The Association has not backed down from its recent "Urgent Call to Action" on environmental challenges, though, and current president of the NAE, the Rev. Leith Anderson, told the Times that he stood behind Cizik and his emphasis on the issue.
While the letter focused on the moral issue, several of the leaders were pretty candid about political motivations in later interviews: "...some signers of this latest letter said they were wary of the global warming issue because they associated it with leftists, limits on free enterprise and population control, which they oppose." We're not exactly sure about the Biblical basis for these concerns... perhaps they'll be addressed in another letter? ::New York Times
UPDATE: Fortune senior writer Marc Gunther discussed this development with the Rev. Cizik, and provides an overview of the minister's "conversion" to Christian environmental activist on his blog.
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Revelation 11:18 "God will destroy those who destroy the earth."
Seems pretty clear unlike the stuff about homosexuality:
Lev. 18:22, "You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination."
which could be taken to mean 'don't have anal sex with women'.
Satan's greatest achievement:
Religious fundamentalism
Ummm... I'm pretty sure this is preaching to the choir (no pun intended), but unless we take care of the planet, moral "problems" are all moot. No planet left, no moral judgments to affect any one, no people left. And speaking of diversions, wouldn't this be one of THEIR diversionary tactics? Keep us focused and outraged about their lack of eco-mindedness whilst those in office screw us all over.
Isn't it just funny how the"left" in this country gets indirectly placated very positively by everything coming from the "right":
Environmentalists = Leftie
Tolerance toward Homosexuality = Leftie
Support and Appreciation of Homesexuality = LEFTIEEEE!
No arm's race = Leftie
Gun Control = LEFTIE
Personal Weapons Abolishment = ARGGHHHH^&*%^$
No Torture = Leftie
Stop killing things and people by comfortably leaning back and doing nothing = you get the point.
If you are pretty much middle of the road and your country's political system turns hard right, where do you all of a sudden find yourself?
(And all of this without your own doing.....)
Why are there no human rights issues, peace, a stop to all cruel bioengineering, global warming on the forefront of this country's right??
Where on god's earth are their values?
Because they're addicted to money and their goddarn status quo which means more than life to them, even if it means their own children falling prey to the lousy life conditions the are willing to leave behind.
This is the most blatantly egotistical, maniacal and murderous "right" I ever witnessed. Dinosaur Minds.
Why do we point our fingers at the taliban when our own legacy is a million times more destructive than theirs. Sorry but not in my name. In Europe I voted conservative. Here, I gladly am a "Leftie"
"You shall judge the tree by it's fruit" Jesus 1.0
Personally, I don't think these religious 'rightists' are concerened about their religion or that of their fellow believers. This sounds to me to be more about politics than anything else. These 'envangelicals' are simply right-wing Republicans who use religion to garner votes for the extreme right. And they are afraid that 'their' 'religion' will be 'hijacked' by the 'left' to their disadvantage. They don't see this a a struggle for the 'values' they claim - they see it as a struggle for the religious vote. They are playing politics with religion while the planet burns. I'm not religious, but I've listened to more than a few very religious people who care about the planet just as much as I do and just as much as any other individual concerned about the environment. We all live on this planet. It's welfare is a concern to all political parties, religions, organizations, countries, etc. It is nonsense to call it a 'distraction'.
i'm not christian and wasn't raised christian, so my knowledge of the religion is only so much as ive gathered from extended family, friends, and society as a whole, but if im not wrong the point of christianity is to try to live in the way christ did/would were he here now. that seems like the simplest way to describe it. so far as i can tell, christ would cherish and protect the planet, and would treat its inhabitants, be they homosexual, whore, or abortionist with the same love and respect as he would treat the pope, pastor or president. if i as a non-christian can grasp this, why cant their rabid leaders understand?
Much as I don't agree with many of the aspects of Christian fundamentalists, I don't see what outrage about this issue on the part of self-proclaimed environmentalists is.
The fact is, is that the environmentalist agenda has become a political one. The fact that Dobson or Falwell are essentially urging their followers to keep their nose out of this political agenda is not inconsistent with the concept of "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's." Political issues, such as those promoted by environmentalists, are not the purview of their church. They're just saying it clearly and unambiguously.
Given the overwhelmingly left-wing influence of environmentalists (and, please, you're not fooling anyone), and the fact that Christian fundamentalists continue to be a long-time punching bag of the left, it's not surprising to see the blind rage directed at them by the left -- this time, in the guise of "environmentalism".
You guys need to find a new villain, this one is soooo eighties.
No, the planet is not a partisan issue. These guys are making it one, and that's the problem, and that's worth being outraged about because it's extremely counter-productive.
The fact that more left-leaning people are part of the environmental movement doesn't make them wrong, and it doesn't mean that they do it for partisan reason; it is possible that the information just flowed better on that side of the aisle and people weren't misinformed by big money-polluters and their cronies...
You start out saying:
"No, the planet is not a partisan issue. These guys are making it one ..."
And then you end up by saying:
"...misinformed by big money-polluters and their cronies"
Sorry, what was that you were saying about not being a partisan issue?
If you're trying to claim that so-called environmentalism hasn't been completely co-opted by the leftist agenda, you're not doing a very good job.
Such a load of BS... Just get off your corporate fed asses and do something about our planet.
I am from South Africa and I can tell you with absolute certainty that CARING ABOUT THE PLANET has very little to do with left, right, partisan or unpartisan. Americans seem to forget, from time to time, that there is a lot of planet surrounding their shores: concern over climate change should, and will, transcend race, gender, politics and religion. Because at the end of the day, there are a whole lot of people living in this world who would like to keep on living in it. I feel sad for everyone that this moronic argument has even cropped up. Shame on everyone who puts emotional or intellectual human concerns over the wellbeing of every living creature on this earth.
"Just get off your corporate fed asses and do something about our planet."
Yessir! Right away, boss! No left wing agenda here, folks. Move along, nothing to see here. Ignore the man behind the curtain.
Al Gore has made this "the overriding moral issue of our time". Religious leaders disagree. I, for one, can't see how global warming trumps, say, poverty or starvation, so I guess I would have to agree with the Christian Fundamentalist assertion that global warming is not more important morally than other things (albeit while not agreeing with their priority list either).
The notion that "environmentalism" is a political movement, not a social one, is something I must also unfortunately agree with. Most of the people I hear spew maxims about global warming have no intention of making any personal choices that might change the situation. For now, pronouncements are sufficient currency to join the "in crowd". Until that changes, it's mostly politics (oh, and car sales).
Ya know, there is a richness within Catholic social teaching that can form the ethical basis with which to deal with climate change.
Climate change points to the ethical issues involved in intergenerational justice; the irresponsible use of fossil fuel by two or three generations can have irreversible consequence for all future generations.
Yet, sardonically, the Catholic Church have written numerous statements on climate change. Pope John Paul II spoke about the need for us all to undergo an "ecological conversion." But that was seen as too little on a topic of such importance for humankind. Elsewhere in the Church there has been little official response. The Vatican has been slow to embrace climate change.
Contradiction and inconsistency in my phrasing reflects the Christians' (chiefly the Christian fundamentalists) ignobly aligned priorities in regards with the environment.
If you accuse people of politically coloring the issue, I would ask, what will YOU do when the alarmists are proven right? What are YOU willing to bet? If 2007 turns out to continue the trend of more global heating and drought and misery, what will YOU give up? Will you give up your 2008 jet vacation? 10,000 miles in your SUV?
If you're so confident we're overstating the question, you should be willing to make a bet to prove it.
Frankly, I have to agree with the position of the evangelical leaders. This whole "global warming" issue seems to be yet another subtle distraction among so many that are continually being prompted by the outworkings of Satan and his many emissaries in order to distract us from our evangelical mission. This is not to say that our evangelical mission SHOULD be fundamentally to ban gay marriage or to promote the pro-life agenda, etc. Our fundamental mission is to spread the Gospel to the lost, period. It seems that almost everyone is being distracted by SOME issue or other, including environmental issues, but this is not our calling as Christians, and to become activist in it is certainly to be distracted from our true calling.
And as for the global warming issue itself, the Al Gore camp's claims that the scientific community is all in agreement that we are experiencing an abnormal, human-caused global climate change is patently false. It doesn't take much effort online to find that there are, in fact, MANY scientists who do not agree, or who are still sitting on the fence on the issue, and, likewise, not much more effort to reach the conclusion that there are almost as many different opinions in the Al Gore camp as there are members. In fact, it's difficult to find ANY TWO opinions that are in total agreement about the issue one way or the other.
My personal opinion is that the cautious scientists who are still sitting on the fence are closer to the truth of the matter than either of the polar extremes of the other camps. While common sense dictates that polluting the atmosphere is not healthy, and biblically, we would have to conclude that good stewardship of the planet means being individually as "green" as possible, the fact of the matter remains that the planetary environment is such a huge entity that to think that mankind could possibly have a global effect by accident when we haven't even reached the point where we can intentionally control the environment on a local level seems to me to be naive at best and patently arrogant at worst. To assume that man has the power within himself to effect global climate change is to impart to man the power of God. While we've come a long way, good and bad, I'm not quite ready to go so far just yet.