Fundies to embrace environmentalism?

[Lord Zentei]

This from an overtly Christian newspaper: Link

Posted on Wed, May. 25, 2005

Increasingly, evangelists are embracing environmentalism

BY PAUL NUSSBAUM

Knight Ridder Newspapers

PHILADELPHIA - (KRT) - One of Calvin DeWitt's favorite Bible verses is Revelation 11:18:

"... The time has come for judging the dead ... and for destroying those who destroy the Earth."

DeWitt, a professor of environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin, is a leader in a growing evangelical Christian movement to protect the environment in the name of God.

"This comes right out of the Christian calling of how we should live our lives on Earth," DeWitt said. "Christians are coming on board more and more because there really is an interest in seeking the kingdom of God beyond just individual needs."

On such issues as global climate change, endangered species, and mercury hazards to the unborn, many evangelical Christians are parting ways with conservatives. They are embracing environmental protection as "stewardship" of God's creation.

One such expression came last week, when President Bush gave the commencement address at Calvin College, a small school in the Reformed tradition in Grand Rapids, Mich. A third of the faculty of the college signed an open letter to Bush, citing "conflicts between our understanding of what Christians are called to do and many of the policies of your administration."

Among the concerns, the faculty wrote: "As Christians we are called to be caretakers of God's good creation. We believe your environmental policies have harmed creation and have not promoted long-term stewardship of our natural environment."

The environmental awakening among evangelicals has prompted some to seek common ground with other faiths. A group of evangelical Protestant scientists is working with Jewish scholars and scientists to form a "Noah Alliance" to protect endangered species - and the Endangered Species Act.

"Ours is the time for a concert of religious voices to proclaim our privilege and responsibility for not allowing the great lineages of God's living creatures to be broken," says a draft statement being circulated this month among Christian and Jewish scientists.

Broadly defined, evangelicals are Christians who have had a personal or "born-again" religious conversion, believe the Bible is the word of God, and believe in spreading their faith. Millions of Americans fit the definition, although estimates vary on exactly how many: Forty-two percent of Americans described themselves as evangelical Christians in a 2003 Gallup poll, while only 19 percent said they met all three criteria in a 1995 Gallup poll. The National Association of Evangelicals says about 25 percent of adult Americans are evangelicals.

Evangelicals - especially white, Protestant evangelicals - have been considered reliable supporters of a conservative agenda that focuses on "values" issues such as abortion and gay marriage. In last year's presidential election, Bush received 78 percent of the vote of white evangelicals, according to the National Election Pool exit poll.

Historically, many evangelical Christians have been suspicious of environmentalism as a liberal, godless movement more interested in scenery than souls.

But in recent months, a number of evangelical leaders have advocated for strong measures to protect the environment, based on biblical teachings of stewardship, helping the poor, and loving one's neighbors.

A group of 30 prominent evangelicals - including the Rev. Ted Haggard, chairman of the National Association of Evangelicals; David Neff, editor of Christianity Today magazine; the Rev. Jo Anne Lyon, executive director of the aid organization World Hope International; and the Rev. Dwight McKissic, senior pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas - met last summer to pledge to "motivate the evangelical community to fully engage environmental issues in a biblically faithful and humble manner, collaborating with those who share these concerns, that we might take our appropriate place in the healing of God's creation, and thus the advance of God's reign."

"We are persuaded that we must not evade our responsibility to care for God's creation," the evangelical leaders wrote after a three-day retreat at Sandy Cove, Md. "We recognize that there is much more we need to learn, and much more praying we need to do, but that we know enough to know that there is no turning back from engaging the threats to God's creation."

The group said it would seek by this summer to find a consensus among evangelical leaders on how best to tackle global warming.

Richard Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals, said recent polling showed 48 percent of evangelicals rated the environment as an important priority, nearly as high a proportion - 52 percent - as those who cited abortion as a priority.

"That's an amazing statistic, considering that we've been talking about abortion for 30 years and we haven't even begun to make a case to a lot of our folks about environmental issues," Cizik said.

John Green, director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics and coauthor of "The Bully Pulpit: The Politics of Protestant Clergy" and "Religion and the Culture Wars: Dispatches From the Front," sees a steady growth in environmental consciousness among evangelicals.

"Historically, evangelical Protestants have been slow to pick up the cause of environmentalism. The more traditional they were, the less interested they were. And some fundamentalists were, in fact, quite hostile to environmentalism.

"In recent times, though, evangelicals have developed an interest in the environment.

"Part of that may be that as more evangelicals have attained middle-class status, they have grown more interested in middle-class issues, and one of those is the environment."

In polling by the Bliss Institute last year, 52 percent of evangelicals agreed with the statement, "Strict rules to protect the environment are necessary even if they cost jobs or result in higher prices."

The Rev. Jim Ball, a Baptist minister who is executive director of the Evangelical Environmental Network and organizer of the "What Would Jesus Drive?" campaign, says evangelical Christians are more receptive to environmental messages "when we talk about things in terms of family and kids."

So one powerful environmental topic among evangelicals has become the threat of mercury, emitted by coal-burning power plants, to the unborn.

And environmental messages resonate more loudly when they are addressed in Christian language, he said.

"I quote the Golden Rule. I remind people that reducing pollution is loving your neighbor. I quote (the Gospel of) Matthew: '(W)hatever you do to the least of these, you do to me.' I remind people that if something we're doing impacts the poor, we're doing that to Jesus."

Some evangelicals remain leery of associating with environmental activists, concerned about what they regard as liberal solutions to environmental problems: big government and oppressive regulations.

The conservative Focus on the Family organization reacted warily to the National Association of Evangelicals' attention to global warming, saying in a statement, "Focus and the broader evangelical movement have viewed such issues as the protection of marriage, the sanctity of human life, and the related issue of judicial reform as paramount. Our friends at the National Association of Evangelicals, with whom we agree on these and so many other issues, have now staked out a position in the very controversial area of global warming. This is despite the fact that significant disagreement exists within the scientific community regarding the validity of this theory. ... Any issue that seems to put plants and animals above humans is one that we cannot support."

Evangelicals should not be taken for granted by any political party or movement, said Paul Gorman, executive director of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment, in Amherst, Mass.

"Religion isn't red or blue and it isn't green, either," Gorman said. "Engagement of the religious community can be a powerful force for the common good."

[Aaron]

I thought they didn't care because the rapture is coming "soon", after all the "signs" point to it any year now.

[KowaiYukiDono]

I thought they didn't care because the rapture is coming "soon", after all the "signs" point to it any year now.

If you were an all-powerful being that was going to destroy the planet, wouldn't you rather destroy a nice, clean planet?

Either that or they're afraid that "D'stroyin' Gawd'z Green Earth" is a "HEATHEN SIN" or somethin'. Never too late to get a few more good words in, after all.

[Aaron]

If you were an all-powerful being that was going to destroy the planet, wouldn't you rather destroy a nice, clean planet?

My understanding of the rapture is that all the "Faithful" will disapear and the heathens stay here on Earth. Maybe their thinking of us for a change. I don't think their buddy Jehovah is going to BDZ the planet though.

Either that or they're afraid that "D'stroyin' Gawd'z Green Earth" is a "HEATHEN SIN" or somethin'. Never too late to get a few more good words in, after all.

Whatever helps them sleep at night, maybe this means the US will ratify Kyoto.

[Alliance SpecForceTrooper]

Hopefully this will catch on and the religious nutjobs will be driven out of the Republican Party. Let those assholes cavort with the other assholes: the Green Party.

[Einhander Sn0m4n]

Proof once again the topology of the political spectrum is not a line, but a circle.

[Aaron]

Proof once again the topology of the political spectrum is not a line, but a circle.

Coincedently the same shape as the asshole.

[Pint0 Xtreme]

Proof once again the topology of the political spectrum is not a line, but a circle.

Coincedently the same shape as the asshole.

[Lord Zentei]

Proof once again the topology of the political spectrum is not a line, but a circle.

Or more likely an N-space, with the number of dimensions being equal to the number of issues.

[Drunk Monkey]

The Crazy Fuckers probably found a tree shaped like a cross and believe it’s a sine to take care of the earth.

Even though common sense would tell you that taking care of the earth is good any ways. but the green’s do tend to go to far.

[Einhander Sn0m4n]

Proof once again the topology of the political spectrum is not a line, but a circle.

Or more likely an N-space, with the number of dimensions being equal to the number of issues.

Better

Except some dimensions are much bigger than others, just like real dimensions in the Universe.

[tharkûn]

The original conservation programs championed by Teddy Roosevelt were heavily backed by Christians using this type of logic. A good deal of the prominent environmentalists of the early 20th century were evangelical Christians. Like so many other political movements, the evangelicals jumped ship somewhere around 1960 or 1970. At that point you started to see "deep ecology", ecofeminism, the odd matriarchal nature goddess, etc. This is not a new discovery by evangelicals, but rather a return to old positions.

[SPOOFE]

Just goes to show that jeezers go through their own ebb and flow of issues... every so often, some minister or priest or pastor or preacher or whatever-the-fuck finds an obscure Bible quote (that their congregation should already know if they were good Christians) and then uses that as the basis of a money- and power-grabbing Bible-thump that makes a few headlines and drives Christianity ever further from Christ.

[tharkûn]

The great monolithic bloc of Christians lead by a handiful of major leaders is relatively new in the US. For the vast majority of US history the faithful came down on either side of the issue, slavery for instance split just about every denomination in the states into a 'northern' and 'southern' wing. Nor do these positions rest on obscure portions of the Bible, the whole stewardship of the Earth gig comes right out the story of Adam and Eve, some earth friendly policies are explicit in the Mosaic law, stewardship talk runs through the new testiment, and even some fun bits from Revelation.

Frankly I don't see what is such a far reach from love thy neighbor to don't pollute the air he breathes with noxious chemicals.

A vast united Evangelical front is a modern and relatively unique development in American politics. Certain morons more or less drove the Christians out of various political movements and only now is that damage being undone.

[Wicked Pilot]

You can get fundie support for any cause by convincing them the Bible supports it. It's a nice little trick called manipulation, dance fundies dance!

[wolveraptor]

How is this a good thing? You guys should know by now that these guys are the kings of taking it too far. They'll be burning down factories any day now, killing people with cross-shaped broadswords. These people are worse than Greenpeace.

[Alliance SpecForceTrooper]

How is this a good thing? You guys should know by now that these guys are the kings of taking it too far. They'll be burning down factories any day now, killing people with cross-shaped broadswords. These people are worse than Greenpeace.

Well, considering that those Republicans left will be gun owners, let 'em come out with swords. My SMLE Mk III hasn't seen action since World War II and is probably getting 'thirsty for souls'.....

Nah, my rifle isn't really something from Melnibone

Anyway, I do hope they jump ship en masse. They are an Albatross around our necks.

[Plekhanov]

Just goes to show that jeezers go through their own ebb and flow of issues... every so often, some minister or priest or pastor or preacher or whatever-the-fuck finds an obscure Bible quote (that their congregation should already know if they were good Christians) and then uses that as the basis of a money- and power-grabbing Bible-thump that makes a few headlines and drives Christianity ever further from Christ.

In what way does some fundies realising that “the rapture” might not be coming next year and that our stewardship of the earth might last for a few more generations qualify as driving “Christianity ever further from Christ”?

Going off what I’ve read about him (if he’d ever actually existed) “Christ” might well have approved of people giving a shit about the world that we’ll leave to our descendents, you seem to disagree, why?

[Shinova]

So in a way of speaking, fundies no longer are simply content with sending us morally and mentally back into the dark ages, they want to physically send us there too?

[tharkûn]

How is this a good thing?

Adds more issues to the levers controlling the fundy vote, making it possible offer different quid pro quo than the same tired handful of issues up for grabs today.

In a wider context issues like these might actually loosen the death grip the Republican party has on the fundie vote and dilute their power during the primaries and allow the democrats to pick up a few percentage points. The key to sensible American politics is to divide and conqueor. A united fundie front can only be countered when a larger bloc gets pissed off enough to put their own quibbles aside. Fracturing the fundy vote can only be a good thing.

You guys should know by now that these guys are the kings of taking it too far. They'll be burning down factories any day now, killing people with cross-shaped broadswords.

Doubtful. Above it all the fundies care about human souls, killing people to save their souls - sure. Killing them, and hence losing any chance to save their soul, for the sake of trees just isn't going to happen. Frankly I would expect them to be a moderating influence in most environmental organizations.

These people are worse than Greenpeace.

Only if they beleive that what they are doing is going bring more people to Jesus. Greenpeace cares about the earth for the earth. Fundies care about the earth because God told them too; but God's overriding command is to seek converts. So long as saving the trees never becomes part and parcel to converting the heathen, the bloody rampages will be held in reserve for those whom are a threat to converting the masses.

[Mr. B]

I always thought the fundies wanted the world trashed because it would bring about the rapture sooner or some crazy shit like that. At least Bush s trying.

[darthdavid]

http://www.idrewthis.org/2005/rapture.html

[Mr. B]

Ha. Thats pretty funny. Jesus is gonna be soooo pissed at GW Bush. And not because of that whole made up war thing either.