Holy Shift!

Southern Baptist leaders urge action on climate change

Posted at 6:02 AM on 10 Mar 2008

Photo: iStockphoto

Over 40 prominent Southern Baptist leaders released a statement Monday urging action against climate change, asserting that "the time for timidity regarding God's creation is no more." The declaration is a notable departure from a statement released after the denomination's 2007 annual meeting that questioned human impacts on climate change. "We believe our current denominational engagement with these issues have often been too timid, failing to produce a unified moral voice," the new declaration says. "Our cautious response to these issues in the face of mounting evidence may be seen by the world as uncaring, reckless, and ill-informed. We can do better." The signatories also urged action on other environmental ills and called on churches to preach about caring for the environment. One of the signatories, Jonathan Merritt, stressed why environmental protection is so important. "[W]hen we destroy God's creation, it's similar to ripping pages from the Bible," he said.

sources: The New York Times, Associated Press, CNN.com
straight to the declaration: A Southern Baptist Declaration on the Environment and Climate Change
see also, in Grist: God & the Environment, a Grist special series

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Comments: (3 comments)

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Well I'll be...

damned.... oh, wait, that already happened a long time ago.

Still, I must admit, this I didn't expect. Kudos to them for taking a step in the right direction. Let's hope it's more than just window dressing.

(Shaking head in wonder) Just when I thought I'd seen it all.

patrick in Beijing

by bookerly at 6:34 AM on 10 Mar 2008

Lamb Chop sideburns

By the early 70s after Flower Power was long gone, bankers and lawyers were wearing flowery ties, sideburns and longish hair.

But that indicated the End, not the beginning, of an era...

Time Magazine headline:

Global Warming Is Dead.

by jabailo at 3:16 PM on 10 Mar 2008

Amen

"We must be the change we wish to see in the world." -- Mahatma Ghandi

by Green Granny at 3:44 PM on 10 Mar 2008

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