[Vision2020] Warming Affirmed as Moral Issue

[keely emerinemix]

I like anything that begins "rebuffing Christian radio broadcaster James 
Dobson . . . " and I applaud the NAE for not bowing to the pressure exerted 
by the Focus on the Family types.

Care for the environment should have captured the passion of evangelicals 
for generations.  Portraying oneself as a worshiper of the Giver while 
trouncing upon the gift seems more than a little incongruous, and the 
consequences have been a peril to all life.  How the "sanctity of life" got 
to be defined only in terms of fetal life and heterosexually-parented 
families is a study in the Scriptural, cultural, moral and personal 
obtuseness of many who claim the name of Christ.  Unfortunately, it seemed 
to be a requirement at the dawn and maturation of the media age to gain 
access to a microphone or printing press, and the tragedy is not only the 
trashing of the earth, but the degradation of the Gospel.

Reagan administration Secretary of the Interior James Watt, an evangelical, 
once suggested that Christians get what they could out of mines and forests 
in the U.S., because when Jesus came back, he'd be furious at the 
opportunities wasted.  I'm not sure who Watt was expecting, but it sounds 
not at all like the God who delights in clothing the flowers of the field 
and providing for the birds of the air.  Our dominion of the earth is a call 
for stewardship, not plunder, and yet Watt and his successors seized the 
debate when Christians allowed themselves to become terrified of anything 
they described as "liberal."

keely

From: "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com>
To: "Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Subject: [Vision2020] Warming Affirmed as Moral Issue
Date: Sun, 11 Mar 2007 07:37:05 -0700

 >From today's (March 11, 2007) Spokesman Review -

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Warming affirmed as moral issue

Alan Cooperman
Washington Post
March 11, 2007

WASHINGTON - Rebuffing Christian radio commentator James Dobson, the board
of directors of the National Association of Evangelicals reaffirmed its
position that environmental protection, which it calls "creation care," is
an important moral issue.

Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, and two dozen other conservative
Christian leaders, including Gary Bauer, Tony Perkins and Paul Weyrich, sent
the board a letter this month denouncing the NAE's vice president, the Rev.
Richard Cizik, for urging attention to global warming.

The letter argued that evangelicals are divided on whether climate change is
a real problem, and it said that "Cizik and others are using the global
warming controversy to shift the emphasis away from the great moral issues
of our time," such as abortion and same-sex marriage.

If Cizik "cannot be trusted to articulate the views of American evangelicals
on environmental issues, then we respectfully suggest that he be encouraged
to resign his position with the NAE," the letter concluded.

The NAE's president, the Rev. Leith Anderson, said Saturday the board did
not respond to the letter during a two-day meeting that ended Friday in
Minneapolis. But, he said, the board reaffirmed a 2004 position paper, "For
the Health of the Nations," that outlined seven areas of civic
responsibility for evangelicals, including creation care along with
religious freedom, nurturing the family, sanctity of life, compassion for
the poor, human rights and restraining violence.

On Friday, the NAE's board approved a 12-page statement on terrorism and
torture. Anderson said that Cizik gave a report to the board on his work in
Washington as vice president for governmental affairs and that there was no
effort to reprimand him. "I think there was a lot of support from me, from
the executive committee and from the board for Rich Cizik," Anderson said.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"As more and more heathens 'choose' to not have children the number of Godly
souls will increase. If the number of Christian births out number the number
of Islamic births the battle will be over in 3 or 4 generations."

- Doug "No-Clue" Farris (March 10, 2007)



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