Christians urge global warming laws

WASHINGTON – A group of evangelical Christian leaders kicked off a national campaign Wednesday to urge Congress to pass legislation to limit carbon-dioxide emissions, contending that decreasing the human role in global warming was central to putting faith into action.

The evangelical leaders said they were acting not just out of a sense of stewardship for the Earth as God’s creation but also out of concern for the poor, who are most often the hardest hit by hurricanes, floods and other natural disasters linked to climate change.

Through a national advertising campaign using television, radio and the print media – including an ad running in today’s New York Times with a statement signed by 86 Christian leaders – the evangelicals said they hoped to further the growing momentum for environmentalism within many churches.

Evangelical Christians have been portrayed in the media for many years as all but a wing of the Republican Party, and many hold views that are virtually indistinguishable from the GOP’s platform. But evangelicals say they have always been a more diverse group than media portrayals have suggested.

Still, the group of 86 acknowledged that other evangelicals, including some notable leaders, have expressed doubts about whether humans are a factor in global warming and have also steered clear of environmentalism, which they have long associated with the liberal, secular culture.

But the evangelical leaders said they hoped their new campaign would win those doubting evangelicals over to their side.

“In the first century the Roman world was a tumultuous place,” said Leith Anderson, pastor of the Wooddale Church, a mega-church in Eden Prairie, Minn.

“And St. Peter wrote to the Christians and said do what is right and don’t be afraid. And that’s what we as evangelicals are stepping up to do on the issue of climate change.

“Those 86 of us who have signed this statement and others as well are saying that we believe we are doing what is right and we are not afraid,” Anderson said. “We’re convinced that God created the world and entrusted it to us and we’re concerned about the impact of global warming upon those who are the poorest of the poor and the marginalized in society.”