American Churches Buy Into Radical Environmentalist' Worldview

Leaders of a group that encourages evangelical Christians to care for the environment say the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico raises moral challenges for the country. The Revs. Jim Ball and Mitchell Hescox, leaders of the Evangelical Environmental Network, are visiting southern Louisiana to pray with people who have lost jobs because of the spill. Joining them is the Rev. Galen Carey of the National Association of Evangelicals. Ball says they took a boat ride off the coast Thursday and were saddened by sights of oil-spattered marshes where birds were nesting. He says the oil spill is a stain on the nation's stewardship of God's creation, and should inspire people of faith to embrace cleaner energy sources. Ball says how the nation responds to the disaster is a matter of values. - Evangelical Leaders Say Oil Spill Raises Moral Issues, Associated Press, June 17, 2010

The Sierra Club, a Radical Environmentalist Group, Celebrates American Churches That Buy Into Their Worldview

May 20, 2010

WorldViewTimes - This is a newsletter from the Sierra Club about faith groups going green in 2008. Some of them are no surprise, but one was a Birmingham, AL, apostolic bishop who was called a 'modern-day Noah'. Another was a Dr. Joel Hunter of Northland Church in Florida, his church was trying to reduce their carbon footprint in their sanctuary. Peachtree Baptist Church of Atlanta is offering a low carbon diet; another church, Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Boise, ID, worked directly with the Sierra Club on a stream restoration project and had an Environmental Stewardship Conference in 2007. Unfortunately, there are a few more like this in the publication.

Excerpt from the Sierra Club newsletter "FAITH IN ACTION: COMMUNITIES OF FAITH BRING HOPE FOR THE PLANET:"

For at least the last two decades, religious leaders and scholars of many traditions have been working to articulate specifically theological, moral and spiritual views on the environmental crisis, linking core religious values such as stewardship, justice, and concern for future generations with environmental concerns. The United Church of Christ (UCC) issued a roundbreaking report in 1987 documenting socioeconomic and racial disparities in the placement of toxic waste facilities throughout the United States, raising awareness about the connection between social justice and environmental concerns. In Pope John Paul II’s “World Day of Peace” message in 1990 he urged the world’s more than one billion Catholics to connect their belief in God as a creator with care for the environment.

Scientists also play a key role in this movement, calling on religious leaders for dialogue and assistance. In the early nineties, a coalition of some of the world’s most eminent Nobel Laureate scientists including Carl Sagan wrote an “Open Letter” to religious leaders in which they acknowledged the limits of science and technology alone to solve the world’s environmental problems. They described the environmental crisis as “intrinsically religious.” More recently, world renowned biologist and secular humanist E.O. Wilson published a book entitled “The Creation” in which he identifies science and religion as “the two most powerful forces in the world today” and concludes that they need each other to solve the burgeoning environmental crises. Breaking stereotypes and chipping away at historic tensions between scientific, environmental and religious communities, these scientists seek to bring together people of faith and good will around the world in efforts to protect the planet.

Also in the nineties, organizations in the United States like the National Religious Partnership for the Environment began to foster ongoing efforts among religious leaders including Jewish, Orthodox, mainline Protestant, Catholic, historic Black church communions and evangelical Christians. A decade later, the Interfaith Power and Light Campaign gained grassroots traction, forming partnerships with Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Unitarian and many other congregations around the country, while the 2002 “What Would Jesus Drive” Campaign earned major media attention.

Many factors have contributed to this so-called “greening of religion” movement, but none so much in recent years as the looming climate crisis. As the environmental implications of global warming and its disproportionate impact on the world’s poor become increasingly clear, religious leaders are speaking up. February 2006 marked a new era in the environmental conversation, when 86 evangelical Christian leaders signed the Evangelical Climate Initiative statement and called upon our nation’s leaders to address global warming. In early 2008, a group of leading Southern Baptists issued a statement calling for action on global warming and Pope Benedict urged Catholics to recognize pollution as a “sin.” All of these initiatives coalesce around a few key broadly shared principles: stewardship, justice and concern for “the poor,” and concern for one’s neighbor and future generations among them ...

In the face of unprecedented environmental challenges like global warming, people from all walks of life are coming together to make a difference. Many Sierra Club members also come to their environmental activism from a place of faith. In fact, almost half of Club members say that they attend worship services at least once per month. Sierra Club is engaged in active partnerships with communities of faith across the country and from nearly every faith tradition and spirituality to put their values into action. We believe that the magnitude of the challenges we face necessitates such collaboration ...

Sierra Club’s members and supporters are more than 1.3 million of your friends and neighbors. Inspired by nature, we work together to protect our communities and the planet. The Club is America’s oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization. No Sierra Club funds were used for any 501(c)4 legislative lobbying purposes.