Just what is it with evangelical Christians and global warming?

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2009/apr/17/climate-change-religion

A poll this week showed that only 34% of America's white evangelical Protestants accepted there is solid evidence that global warming is real and that it is attributable to humans

Friday 17 April 2009 14.58 BST

<snip>But I think the We Get It! declaration makes better sense when you learn that it is backed by the Family Research Council and its spokesperson Tony Perkins (no, not the one in Psycho – I think) who says that "we cannot justify policies that make food and energy more expensive on the grounds that we're fighting against an environmental threat that is at best speculative". (Head over to the "issues" page of the Family Research Council for a sample of its other viewpoints – its views on homosexuality are pretty enlightening.)

Another key supporter of the We Get It! Campaign is the Cornwall Alliance which, since its creation in 2000, has been doing its best to whip up the fires of scepticism about global warming. (It does claim to have supporters from other faiths and denominations, but it is a predominately evangelical organisation.) Again, it's worth reading over its views in detail yourself, but here's a little taster:

Many people mistakenly view humans as principally consumers and polluters rather than producers and stewards. Consequently, they ignore our potential, as bearers of God's image, to add to the earth's abundance… Our position, informed by revelation and confirmed by reason and experience, views human stewardship that unlocks the potential in creation for all the earth's inhabitants as good. Humanity alone of all the created order is capable of developing other resources and can thus enrich creation, so it can properly be said that the human person is the most valuable resource on earth… While some environmental concerns are well founded and serious, others are without foundation or greatly exaggerated… Some unfounded or undue concerns include fears of destructive manmade global warming, overpopulation, and rampant species loss.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. A biblical passage where humans are given the earth to do as they will

that is the problem

We cannot possibly be causing any damage to that which was given to us by god to do as we wish with

(Yep, I knew we were in the shits with these people when in College this was pointed out in a class properly entitled our global future)

[nxylas]

4. That and the "Left Behind" stuff

The world couldn't possibly end due to anything humans do, in their eyes, because they believe the way the world will end has already been spelled out in the Bible (though in reality, the Left Behind narrative only dates back about 100 years and was cobbled together from several unrelated Biblical passages).

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. Well both go back about 150 years

and both are shit

But try to convince these followers of St Darby...

:-)

[trof]

2. God will send another great deluge to cool the planet off.

:hide:

[Klukie]

3. If mans destroys the earth it will....

ruin their theory that God intends on doing it....thru revelation.

[Birdiesmom]

8. The Biblical passage has been mistranslated from the Hebrew

The verse actually says something to the effect that humankind is responsible for bringing the Creation to its fullest potential, and each created being to its greatest fulfillment. Somehow, I don't think rampant overpopulation of humanity, factory farming of animals, elimination of wild habitats, and broad scale chemical pollution is what God had in mind.

[tjwash]

5. ...

[Bill McBlueState]

6. I was going to say something like that

but the cartoon is much funnier than what I would have said.

[Tyler Generation]

7. Well, their whole life is based on ignoring reason

So is it really a surprise? These people literally hate reality so they do that objective reality crap.

[TCJ70]

10. I think that's more than a lot of people would expect.

It's a growing thing in the church. At least in the church people I know.