BOSTON (AP) -- Some leading scientists and evangelical Christian leaders have agreed to put aside their fierce differences over the origin of life and work together to fight global warming.
Representatives met recently in Georgia and agreed on the need for urgent action. Details on the talks will be disclosed in Washington on Wednesday.
"Whether God created the Earth in a millisecond or whether it evolved over billions of years, the issue we agree on is that it needs to be cared for today," said Rich Cizik, vice president of government relations for the National Association of Evangelicals, which represents 45,000 churches.
Eric Chivian, director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, agreed, saying: "Scientists and evangelicals have discovered that we share a deeply felt common concern and sense of urgency about threats to life on Earth and that we must speak with one voice to protect it." ...
It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Last year the former president of the National Association of Evangelicals, Ted Haggard, declined to sign a statement of concern on behalf of the organization because he did not feel it was the consensus of the NAE. This was in spite of his personal beliefs that there was an environmental crisis and that it needed to be addressed.
Now we see the vice president for governmental relations of the NAE quoted prominently in this story. Hopefully this signals a new willingness to engage the problem.
Granted, there is a legitimate scientific debate as to the extent of global warming, and whether we are looking at natural cyclical changes. It is true, however, that Scripture clearly requires stewardship of God's creation. Lowering "greenhouse emissions" will do no harm, and will likely do a great deal of good.
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