Evangelicals: Green or not Green?

Neoconservative-connected Evangelicals put the kibosh on plans for the National Association of Evangelicals to come out in support of serious efforts to curb global warming. However a prestigious group of evangelical leaders broke ranks with the White House calling for government efforts to address the threat of global warming.

Our good buddies at the neoconservative Washington think-tank, Institute for Religion and Democracy (IRD) are deeply involved in this issue. Watch for me to post some more on this issue, but for now let me say I've been seeing this coming for some time. As one who keeps and eye on IRD, I've noticed that they have been involved in critiquing the development of social justice policy by the National Association of Evangelicals, and that they have been developing counter-arguments against taking action on global warming and the environment, generally.

This saddens me, because as a Madison resident and a graduate of our University of Wisconsin, I have taken a good deal of pride in the work of Professor Cal Dewitt, an evangelical and an environmentalist who has worked for many years to convince his fellow evangelicals that God is calling them to be environmentalists. (Calvin DeWitt is quoted in the first Washington Post article linked above.) However, environmentalism is an inconvenience to the powers that be that control the ruling neoconservative wing of the Republican party. Let's pray that evangelicals will continue to break ranks with this power-hungry Washington gang.