Creation Care - Evangelicals Embrace Environmentalism

[mhr]

Salon.com

"A crisis of biblical proportions"
A pro-Bush but eco-conscious evangelical launches a crusade against global warming.

By Amanda Griscom Little

Oct. 7, 2005 | Polluters will have to answer to God, not just government, says Richard Cizik. Vice president of governmental affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals, Cizik is a pro-Bush Bible-brandishing reverend zealously opposed to abortion, gay marriage and embryonic stem-cell research. He is also on a mission to convert tens of millions of Americans to the cause of conservation, using a right-to-life framework. Cizik has been crisscrossing the United States in recent months, spreading the doctrine of "creation care" to evangelical Christians.

Citing the Bible, Cizik says "it is sinfully wrong -- it is a tragedy of enormous proportions -- to destroy, degrade, or despoil the earth." And he maintains that subscribing to the "creation care" agenda does not mean people "have to become liberal weirdoes." With his leadership, NAE, one of the most politically powerful religious advocacy groups in America, released a manifesto last year urging its members to adopt eco-friendly living habits and exhorting the government to lighten America's environmental footprint. Next month, the organization will begin circulating a charter calling on its member network and top-level Beltway allies to fight global warming.

Cizik spoke recently from his hotel in New York City, where he was preparing to appear at a religious rally and wax evangelical on climate change -- a crisis, he says, of "biblical proportions." He talked about collaborating with left-wing enviro groups, the clash between evangelical beliefs and science -- and motivating 30 million constituents to provoke change in Bush's widely denounced environmental policies.

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http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/10/07/eco_evangelical/

[applegrove]

1. Good. This is more like the Christians I know. n/t

[PaulaFarrell]

2. You can't be pro-bush and eco-conscious

non-sequitar. oxymoron. lie.

[RaleighNCDUer]

4. The more he does this, and finds himself in conflict with *,

the liklier he is to figure that out.

[0rganism]

3. Maybe this will awaken some people that secular environmentalists can't

I'm glad some of the rightwing Christians still have a conscience and some concern for the long-term health of the planet.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

5. The Christian Roots of the Environmental Crisis

We "shall continue to have a worsening ecologic crisis until we reject the Christian axiom that nature has no reason for existence save to serve man." Lynn White, Jr., "The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis", Science V. 155 No. 3767 (10 March 1967), pp. 1203-1207.



(edited for typo)

[QC]

6. Yes, because only Christian societies have abused the environment.

:eyes:

You might want to research the common Christian idea of stewardship so that you can have a more nuanced view of this issue.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

7. You are wrong

Native Americans did things like massive buffalo stampedes for a limited amount of meat and furs.

The middle east has been denuded of trees mostly in an ecological disaster exacerbated by grazing and human activities.

Easter Island's inhabitants cut down all the trees and then they died.

The Mayan civilizaton collapsed due to overfarming impoverished land and cutting down too many trees to make lime for buildings.

The Christian Dominionists in practice don't give a whit about stewardship. Endangered Species Act be damned, in their view. Property rights triumphant.