Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie

"Climate Change: An Evangelical Call to Action"

Evangelical Christians - including best selling author Rick Warren - broke with the Republican Party this week by launching a campaign to stop global warming.  The campaign includes a letter (reprinted below) calling for congressional and presidential action on global warming, a website, and also includes a television commercial to be aired later.

The campaign was launched after the National Association of Evangelicals caved under pressure from leading activists in the Religious Right and refused - as hoped - to release their own statement on global warming. 

"James Dobson, head of Focus on the Family; Charles Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries; the Rev. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention; Richard Roberts, president of Oral Roberts University; Donald Wildmon, head the American Family Association; and the Rev. Louis Sheldon, head of the Traditional Values Coalition," were among those reported by MSNBC who signed a letter telling the National Association of Evangelicals not to release a statement. 

The Republican Party-aligned Institute on Religion and Democracy also called on the National Association of Evangelicals not to question President Bush's policies.

However, many prominent evangelicals put their faith ahead of politics and did release a statement:

Climate Change: An Evangelical Call to Action

Preamble
As American evangelical Christian leaders, we recognize both our opportunity and our responsibility to offer a biblically based moral witness that can help shape public policy in the most powerful nation on earth, and therefore contribute to the well-being of the entire world.1 Whether we will enter the public square and offer our witness there is no longer an open question. We are in that square, and we will not withdraw.

We are proud of the evangelical community's long-standing commitment to the sanctity of human life. But we also offer moral witness in many venues and on many issues. Sometimes the issues that we have taken on, such as sex trafficking, genocide in the Sudan, and the AIDS epidemic in Africa, have surprised outside observers. While individuals and organizations can be called to concentrate on certain issues, we are not a single-issue movement. We seek to be true to our calling as Christian leaders, and above all faithful to Jesus Christ our Lord. Our attention, therefore, goes to whatever issues our faith requires us to address.

Over the last several years many of us have engaged in study, reflection, and prayer related to the issue of climate change (often called "global warming"). For most of us, until recently this has not been treated as a pressing issue or major priority. Indeed, many of us have required considerable convincing before becoming persuaded that climate change is a real problem and that it ought to matter to us as Christians. But now we have seen and heard enough to offer the following moral argument related to the matter of human-induced climate change. We commend the four simple but urgent claims offered in this document to all who will listen, beginning with our brothers and sisters in the Christian community, and urge all to take the appropriate actions that follow from them.

Claim 1: Human-Induced Climate Change is Real
Since 1995 there has been general agreement among those in the scientific community most seriously engaged with this issue that climate change is happening and is being caused mainly by human activities, especially the burning of fossil fuels. Evidence gathered since 1995 has only strengthened this conclusion.

Because all religious/moral claims about climate change are relevant only if climate change is real and is mainly human-induced, everything hinges on the scientific data. As evangelicals we have hesitated to speak on this issue until we could be more certain of the science of climate change, but the signatories now believe that the evidence demands action:

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world's most authoritative body of scientists and policy experts on the issue of global warming, has been studying this issue since the late 1980s. (From 19882002 the IPCC's assessment of the climate science was Chaired by Sir John Houghton, a devout evangelical Christian.) It has documented the steady rise in global temperatures over the last fifty years, projects that the average global temperature will continue to rise in the coming decades, and attributes "most of the warming" to human activities.

The U.S. National Academy of Sciences, as well as all other G8 country scientific Academies (Great Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Canada, Italy, and Russia), has concurred with these judgments.

In a 2004 report, and at the 2005 G8 summit, the Bush Administration has also acknowledged the reality of climate change and the likelihood that human activity is the cause of at least some of it.2

In the face of the breadth and depth of this scientific and governmental concern, only a small percentage of which is noted here, we are convinced that evangelicals must engage this issue without any further lingering over the basic reality of the problem or humanity's responsibility to address it.

Claim 2: The Consequences of Climate Change Will Be Significant, and Will Hit the Poor the Hardest
The earth's natural systems are resilient but not infinitely so, and human civilizations are remarkably dependent on ecological stability and well-being. It is easy to forget this until that stability and well-being are threatened.

Even small rises in global temperatures will have such likely impacts as: sea level rise; more frequent heat waves, droughts, and extreme weather events such as torrential rains and floods; increased tropical diseases in now-temperate regions; and hurricanes that are more intense. It could lead to significant reduction in agricultural output, especially in poor countries. Low-lying regions, indeed entire islands, could find themselves under water. (This is not to mention the various negative impacts climate change could have on God's other creatures.)

Each of these impacts increases the likelihood of refugees from flooding or famine, violent conflicts, and international instability, which could lead to more security threats to our nation.

Poor nations and poor individuals have fewer resources available to cope with major challenges and threats. The consequences of global warming will therefore hit the poor the hardest, in part because those areas likely to be significantly affected first are in the poorest regions of the world. Millions of people could die in this century because of climate change, most of them our poorest global neighbors.

Claim 3: Christian Moral Convictions Demand Our Response to the Climate Change Problem
While we cannot here review the full range of relevant biblical convictions related to care of the creation, we emphasize the following points:

Christians must care about climate change because we love God the Creator and Jesus our Lord, through whom and for whom the creation was made. This is God's world, and any damage that we do to God's world is an offense against God Himself (Gen. 1; Ps. 24; Col. 1:16).

Christians must care about climate change because we are called to love our neighbors, to do unto others as we would have them do unto us, and to protect and care for the least of these as though each was Jesus Christ himself (Mt. 22:34-40; Mt. 7:12; Mt. 25:31-46).

Christians, noting the fact that most of the climate change problem is human induced, are reminded that when God made humanity he commissioned us to exercise stewardship over the earth and its creatures. Climate change is the latest evidence of our failure to exercise proper stewardship, and constitutes a critical opportunity for us to do better (Gen. 1:26-28).

Love of God, love of neighbor, and the demands of stewardship are more than enough reason for evangelical Christians to respond to the climate change problem with moral passion and concrete action.

Claim 4: The need to act now is urgent. Governments, businesses, churches, and individuals all have a role to play in addressing climate changestarting now.
The basic task for all of the world's inhabitants is to find ways now to begin to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels that are the primary cause of human-induced climate change.

There are several reasons for urgency. First, deadly impacts are being experienced now. Second, the oceans only warm slowly, creating a lag in experiencing the consequences. Much of the climate change to which we are already committed will not be realized for several decades. The consequences of the pollution we create now will be visited upon our children and grandchildren. Third, as individuals and as a society we are making long-term decisions today that will determine how much carbon dioxide we will emit in the future, such as whether to purchase energy efficient vehicles and appliances that will last for 10-20 years, or whether to build more coal-burning power plants that last for 50 years rather than investing more in energy efficiency and renewable energy.

In the United States, the most important immediate step that can be taken at the federal level is to pass and implement national legislation requiring sufficient economy-wide reductions in carbon dioxide emissions through cost-effective, market-based mechanisms such as a cap-and-trade program. On June 22, 2005 the Senate passed the Domenici-Bingaman resolution affirming this approach, and a number of major energy companies now acknowledge that this method is best both for the environment and for business.

We commend the Senators who have taken this stand and encourage them to fulfill their pledge. We also applaud the steps taken by such companies as BP, Shell, General Electric, Cinergy, Duke Energy, and DuPont, all of which have moved ahead of the pace of government action through innovative measures implemented within their companies in the U.S. and around the world. In so doing they have offered timely leadership.

Numerous positive actions to prevent and mitigate climate change are being implemented across our society by state and local governments, churches, smaller businesses, and individuals. These commendable efforts focus on such matters as energy efficiency, the use of renewable energy, low CO2 emitting technologies, and the purchase of hybrid vehicles. These efforts can easily be shown to save money, save energy, reduce global warming pollution as well as air pollution that harm human health, and eventually pay for themselves. There is much more to be done, but these pioneers are already helping to show the way forward.

Finally, while we must reduce our global warming pollution to help mitigate the impacts of climate change, as a society and as individuals we must also help the poor adapt to the significant harm that global warming will cause.

Conclusion
We the undersigned pledge to act on the basis of the claims made in this document. We will not only teach the truths communicated here but also seek ways to implement the actions that follow from them. In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, we urge all who read this declaration to join us in this effort.

View signatories

1 Cf. "For the Health of the Nation: An Evangelical Call to Civic Responsibility," approved by National Association of Evangelicals, October 8, 2004.

2 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2001, Summary for Policymakers; http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg1/007.htm. (See also the main IPCC website, www.ipcc.ch.) For the confirmation of the IPCC's findings from the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, see, Climate Change Science: An Analysis of Some Key Questions (2001); http://books.nap.edu/html/climatechange/summary.html. For the statement by the G8 Academies (plus those of Brazil, India, and China) see Joint Science Academies Statement: Global Response to Climate Change, (June 2005): http://nationalacademies.org/onpi/06072005.pdf. Another major international report that confirms the IPCC's conclusions comes from the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment. See their Impacts of a Warming Climate, Cambridge University Press, November 2004, p.2; http://amap.no/acia/. Another important statement is from the American Geophysical Union, "Human Impacts on Climate," December 2003, http://www.agu.org/sci_soc/policy/climate_change_position.html. For the Bush Administration's perspective, see Our Changing Planet: The U.S. Climate Change Science Program for Fiscal Years 2004 and 2005, p.47; http://www.usgcrp.gov/usgcrp/Library/ocp2004-5/default.htm. For the 2005 G8 statement, see http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page7881.asp.

(Read the comments on this post over at Street Prophets)

Care For Creation

Hear the word of the Lord, O people of Israel;

  for the Lord has an indictment against the inhabitants of the land.

There is no faithfulness or loyalty,

  and no knowledge of God in the land.

Swearing, lying, and murder,

  and stealing and adultery break out;

  bloodshed follows bloodshed.

Therefore the land mourns,

  and all who live in it languish;

together with the wild animals

  and the birds of the air,

  even the fish of the sea are perishing.

- Hosea 4:1-3 (NRSV)

Care for creation is a primary obligation of all Christians and yet our environment continues to decline.

More Christians in the United States – mainline and evangelical – are beginning to take these issues seriously and across the pond this week the Archbishop of Canterbury again lent his moral voice to the cause.

When God tells Adam in the first chapter of Genesis that he is to subdue and have dominion over the earth, many would say that this is the beginning of a tragic and disgraceful story – the story of how human beings ravaged and exploited the earth for their own purposes, exhausting its resources and ruining it for future generations. Those who are now most deeply concerned about our environment often accuse the Jewish-Christian tradition of being responsible for a history of greed and abuse directed at the natural world. If we are at last to take our proper responsibility for the earth, we must leave behind this particular religious legacy and find another way of understanding our place on the earth, a way that is more sensitive to the sacredness of our environment.

This is understandable in many ways. But there is much more to be said; and some of it is said in Genesis, some in this morning’s reading from the Gospel. First of all, let’s look at the rest of what our story from Genesis tells us. It says that human beings are made in God’s image; and it tells us that God looked on the whole of what he had made and saw that it was good….

So if humans are to ‘subdue’ the world, the one thing this cannot mean is that they are licensed to treat the creation with indifference or violence or disrespect. The first thing they must do is surely to look at it as God looks; to delight in the joyful order of God’s mind as it is shown in what God makes. Humans must understand that creation is precious to God because it reflects his joy in his own beauty. Before ever human beings are on the scene, creation is looked at by God with this loving joy.

Click here to read the full sermon.

Related Story: Archbishop of Canterbury makes biblical case against ecological destruction

Read comments on this post from Street Prophets

Sinfully Pro-Development Endangered Species Act Passes House

This week the US House of Representatives passed – with the support of the Bush Administration – a new version of the Endangered Species Act that rips the heart out of this important legislation. The National Resources Defense Council reports:

"It would be scandalous to pass this bill into law. This legislation would do nothing to protect wildlife and, in fact, would lead to more extinctions. "Of the many damaging provisions in this bill, one of the worst would repeal rules that protect endangered species from pesticides like DDT, which nearly killed off the bald eagle years ago.

"The bill also would fleece U.S. taxpayers by paying wealthy developers to comply with endangered species protections. Under a loose compensation scheme, land developers would be able to name their price for lost profits. In America we don't pay people not to pollute.

"Most damaging to species recovery, however, is the bill's complete elimination of essential habitat protections. It defies common sense to expect an endangered species to recover if the place it calls home is converted to condos or paved for a parking lot."

Many mainline Christian organizations – including the National Council of Churches USA – opposed the legislation.

"In Scripture, God expresses awe and pleasure with all of God's creation, paying attention to even the seemingly least significant creature. In the story of Noah's ark, God reveals the desire that all life be preserved. We, as human members of God's family, are called to care for God's creation and all of God's creatures.

In recent decades, one way to show this compassion and fulfill our stewardship duty has been to implement the Endangered Species Act. The Endangered Species Act has worked to prevent extinctions, stabilize declining species, and bring some at-risk species to the point of recovery. Scientists have estimated that nearly 200 more species would have gone extinct without the Endangered Species Act and over 40 percent of the species protected by the Endangered Species Act have stabilized or improved their populations.

Legislation championed by Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo (HR 3824) would effectively weaken the Endangered Species Act. We urge you to oppose HR 3824 on the moral grounds that extinction is not stewardship and that one of humanity's responsibilities is to care for all living things. We disavow misleading economic interests that would drive us to sacrifice the wonder, beauty, usefulness, and graciousness of the gifts God has given us all. We firmly hold that we are called to live our lives to glorify God and that development and profit at the expense of God's glory, of which the environment and all the species are but part, is sinful.

We oppose bills that would weaken the Endangered Species Act. As people of faith and as a society, let us ensure that species needing protection are put on the Endangered Species list, that science is allowed to inform those decisions, that the habitat of endangered species is safeguarded, and that endangered species programs receive adequate funding.

As part of our commitment to God we must remember and honor God's covenant with us all: "the sign of the covenant I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations" (Genesis 9:12).

Sincerely, Commission on Religion in Appalachia, Episcopal Church, Washington Office, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Washington Office, General Board of Church and Society, United Methodist Church, Maryknoll Office of Global Concerns, Mennonite Central Committee, National Council of Churches USA, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Washington Office, United Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries

The bill now heads for the Senate.

Judy Bright: "There Wouldn't Be Time To Evacuate"

A battle is brewing between local residents, environmentalists, and a natural gas company that wants to site a pipeline and storage terminal on the Columbia River near Puget Island, Washington and Bradwood, Oregon. Leading the charge to stop this disaster in the making is Wahkiakum Friends of the River, a grassroots organization co-chaired by Judy Bright (my mother). The Oregonian reports:

It (the pipeline and storage terminal) could get the go-ahead as early as this time next year, depending on how its federal application proceeds, said Gary Coppedge, Northern Star's vice president of permitting and development.

Ships would deliver natural gas, super-cooled to liquid form, about every three days. The terminal would have the capacity to hold 7 billion cubic feet of liquid natural gas -- enough to fill two tanks roughly 12 stories tall.

After vaporizers heat the liquid back to gas, the terminal could send up to 1 billion cubic feet of gas daily through its proposed pipeline. A third tank may be added in the future. The pipeline would connect to the main supply line that runs along the Interstate 5 corridor.

But grass-roots critics have lined up against the proposals. Local groups have sponsored guest speakers to discuss the hazards of liquid natural gas, passed out bumper stickers, and distributed lawn signs and posters.

Wahkiakum Friends of the River was formed specifically to fight the Bradwood project. Opponents hope to persuade federal officials at Thursday's meeting that the lower Columbia River isn't an appropriate place for a terminal, said Judy Bright, co-chairwoman of the group.

Residents of Puget Island in Washington would be most directly affected by the terminal, Bright said. They fear it will interrupt fishing and boating and put the area at higher risk of a terrorist attack.

But more importantly, she said, the area has almost no emergency resources in the event of an accident. Washington's Wahkiakum County has no hospital, she noted.

"All emergency responders are volunteers," she said. "Our health department has a staff of four people. On Puget Island, there are two ways out -- the ferry, which lands very close to Bradwood on the Oregon side, and a narrow bridge. Even if there were time to evacuate the island, it would be limited and very slow. But the reality is, if there was an accident, there wouldn't be time to evacuate anyway."

The Thursday meeting mentioned in the article will be where federal agencies will hear plans from Northern Star and concerns from residents of the area. Visit Wahkiakum Friends of the River to learn more.

Related Link: Columbia River Vision has additional information on their site.

"Contaminants A Growing Concern"

Reposted from Disaster News Network - written by Heather Moyer

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (September 20, 2005) —
The threat of a huge negative environmental fallout in the South after Hurricane Katrina is very high, say some environmental groups.

To Derek Malek-Wiley, an environmental justice organizer with the Sierra Club in Louisiana, the health risks from the contaminated water, soil and air are not being taken seriously enough.

"The (Environmental Protection Agency) monitoring is inadequate," said Malek-Wiley, who is also a resident of New Orleans. "The concern is that this is not the first time we've seen something like this happen - this is like Sept. 11."

Residents and workers in New York City are still dealing with health issues due to the toxins in the air after Sept. 11. Community groups are still arguing with the EPA over proper clean-up methods for buildings that the community organizers say were never cleaned properly in the first place.

"Four years down the road - are we going have an outbreak of disease traced back to this?" said Malek-Wiley, continuing the comparison to post-Sept. 11 issues. "There are a whole range of public health issues that are not being adequately addressed. It's tough because there's a desire to get back home and get back to business, but it's so strong that environmental and health concerns are being put to the side."

The picture being painted by the EPA is one of a contaminated region. More than 19,400 "orphan" containers of household hazardous waste have been collected. Some 44 oil spills have been found by the U.S. Coast Guard.

Officials from the EPA say they are doing all they can. The EPA and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality are monitoring air, water and soil contamination around New Orleans. Last week the EPA collected air samples around New Orleans to test for pollutants like benzene, toluene and xylene. According to an EPA news release about the sampling, "These screening data were evaluated against the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) air short-term health standards in order to provide an initial assessment of air quality. The screening results indicated that chemical concentrations in most areas are below ATSDR health standards of concern."

The EPA sampling also found higher levels of those chemicals in the air near the oil spill at the Murphy Oil facility in Chalmette, and the release states that "These initial results represent the beginning of extensive sampling efforts and do not represent all air conditions throughout the area. As this is a dynamic situation, general conclusions should not be made regarding air safety based on results from this snapshot of data."

That statement in itself angers Malek-Wiley, who says it points to the exact problem. "The contamination is hard to quantify. The EPA talks about its sampling program, but when you take a sample it's just from that time and place. What we need is a movie of what's going on throughout New Orleans."

He is also concerned that there is no sampling plan talking about how the contamination hazards are modified by being trapped in sediment. Another news release from the EPA discusses 18 sediment samples taken last week in New Orleans:

"Preliminary results indicate that some sediment may be contaminated with bacteria and fuel oils and human health risks therefore exist from contact with sediment deposited from receding flood waters. E. coli was deteced in sediment samples but no standards exist for determining human health risks from E. coli in soil or sediment. The presence of E. coli, however, does imply the presence of fecal bacteria and exposure to sediment should therefore be limited if possible."

The same release states that some semi-volatile organic compounds such as diesel and fuel oil "were detected at elevated levels and may persist in the environment," and then lists numerous possible health effects from coming in contact with or breathing in such compounds - such as peeling skin and increased blood pressure. Long-term effects from breathing in fuel vapor include kidney damage and lowering the blood's ability to clot.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced on Sept. 15 that it "would be coordinating technical support for federal responder and federal contractor safety and health during cleanup and recovery operations along the Gulf Coast of the United States."

Yet under the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) recently activated Worker Safety and Health Support Annex of the National Response Plan, that leaves state and local governments responsible for their own workers during the cleanup. According to a U.S. Department of Labor document on the Worker Safety and Health Support Annex:

"Private-sector and Federal employers are responsible for the safety and health of their own employees. State and local governments are responsible for worker health and safety pursuant to State and local statutes, and in some cases...Worker Protection. This responsibility includes allocating sufficient resources for safety and health programs, training staff, purchasing protective clothing and equipment as needed, and correcting unsafe or unsanitary conditions."

An OSHA spokesperson said local and state governments can apply to OSHA and FEMA for money to support the cleanup if it is necessary. Yet people like Malek-Wiley remain worried about a unified response from all agencies involved. Will the emergency workers and the public be properly protected?

"The scale of the environmental health catastrophe just keeps growing," he said. "I think there are a lot more questions than answers as far as what people's risks are going to be and how this will impact folks. Should there be a warning for pregnant women in the city? People and health officials don't know. The guys down there working to clean it all up - what kind of training do they have and what is their protective gear? Are they just wearing jeans and waders? There are all sorts of occupational exposures we need to worry about. There are so many unknowns that I think we need to be better safe than sorry."

As far as moving back into the affected areas across the Gulf Coast, another issue residents must face is drinking water. The EPA and the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals are assessing and monitoring the drinking water systems. According to the EPA, more than 490 drinking water systems are now operational and 26 drinking water systems are operating with boil water advisories.

For those with wells, the potential contamination may be a daunting foe. In Mississippi, the state department of environmental quality is urging all residents in flooded regions to have their wells tested for contamination.

The National Ground Water Association (NGWA) is issuing well disinfecting guides to local governments and the public. Cliff Treyens, the director of public awarness for the NGWA, said residents need to be vigilant and remove all contaminated water from their wells.

"When flooded water gets into the well, the well then becomes a pathway for that contaminated water to get into the aquifer," he said. "It's like a sponge, and then it's there."

That is why it is so important for residents to pump water from their wells until the water is clear, Treyens said. He added that almost all methods of killing the bacteria within wells also include chlorinating the entire well system of one's residence.

Treyens said he's not as worried about contaminated soil affecting groundwater. "The ground actually filters the water. So by the time the water reaches an aquifer, if it's sufficiently deep, the ground has filtered out and broken down a lot of the bacterial elements and even chemical contaminants if it's deep enough."

Many NGWA members are signing up via a national professional services volunteer registry to go into the hurricane affected regions and assist the public and local governments, added Treyens. "We'll also be looking at other potential responses for our organization."

Posted September 20, 2005 4:10 PM

Wahkiakum Friends of the River

Residents of Wahkiakum County and Puget Island, Washington fighting the placement of a Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) facility on the Columbia River – an environmental nightmare waiting to happen - have a new organizing tool: a blog. Visit Wahkiakum Friends of the River.

Related Post: Help My Mom Save The Columbia River & Puget Island

NCC launches western public lands initiative to address growing threats

Message from the National Council of Churches USA

The Eco-Justice Program of the National Council of Churches USA has launched a new Western Public Lands Initiative to address growing threats to our nation’s public lands and associated resources. Previously, the NCC has conducted ecumenical and interfaith programs addressing a range of environmental issues including air and water pollution, global warming, and energy conservation. Now the NCC will encourage its member denominations and partner organizations to make responsible stewardship and management of public lands an integral part of their efforts to protect and care for God’s creation. Through worship, education, and advocacy, the NCC initiative aims to begin answering the Biblical call to protect and redeem God’s lands. For more, click here.

Related Link: NCC general secretary nudges James Watt toward greater greenness

Related Post: God's Mandate: Care for Creation

Help My Mom Save The Columbia River & Puget Island

Judy Bright (otherwise known to me as mom) had this posted on her blog tonight:

Four Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminals are slated for sitting on the Columbia River near our home. They will be importing gas from unstable countries, and the U.S. will not be a buyer of first choice. LNG terminals are huge, dangerous, potential terrorist targets, ugly, and lower property values. One of the terminals is planned to be located about 1/2 mile from the end of Puget Island, on the Oregon shore. Our area, with 800 people on Puget Island and about the same in Cathlamet (1 1/2 miles from the site) is described by the development company as "desolate."

But here is the BIG ISSUE: The congessional house passed the National Energy Bill last week by 45 votes, including a provision that allows the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) the authority to site LNG terminals over state objections. This energy bill is slated to to be voted on in the Senate soon. Please contact your Senators, both Democrat and Republican, and ask that they remove this provision from the energy bill. This is a state's rights issue that cannot be ignored! For more information, click onto Columbia RiverVision.

Puget Island is a beautiful farming community on the Washington side of the Columbia River. Could you imagine the environmental damage one of these terminals could create if it exploded (something that has apparently happened in other countries before)? This project has to be stopped. Contact your Senators ASAP.

Update: Senate Endorses Alaskan Oil Drilling

The United States Senate voted today to endorse drilling in the Alaskan Arctic National Wildlife Refuge - a step sought by George W. Bush but opposed by envirnomental and religious groups.  Three democrats (Akaka, Inouye, and Landrieu) crossed party lines and joined the majority of republicans in supporting the move.  Landrieu is often named as a possible vice-presidential candidate for 2008.  A ticket with her on it would have to work hard to get my vote.  Seven brave republicans broke ranks with the president and their own party and voted against drilling.  One of those brave republicans was Gordon Smith of Oregon.

The National Council of Churches USA released the following statement after the vote:

Washington, D.C., March 16, 2005--We express profound grief at the Senate's decision to include drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as part of the budget resolution. Rather than reduce our consumption of oil and begin to move our nation toward clean energy alternatives, our elected officials are once again charting a course that is both unjust and unsustainable. Sacred scripture teaches us unequivocally that we have a responsibility to care for God's creation and to be good neighbors. As people of faith, we also bear witness to the Biblical mandate to care for the least among us. Drilling for oil in such a fragile place contradicts both of these Scriptural commandments. Our call to protect all of God's creation extends to communities such as the Gwich'in that would suffer the most from this Senate decision. To risk the destruction of both an untouched wilderness and an ancient culture violates all that Western civilization understands as our Christian responsibility to people and planet. We call on the Senate to prevent the passage of any legislation that includes the possibility of drilling in one of the Creator's most precious places.

Related Post:  Preserve the Arctic Refuge

Preserve the Arctic Refuge

Debate on how we act as stewards of the environment continues in our nation’s capital. The Bush administration has sided with polluters and profiteers over biblical mandates for the protection of creation. All the evidence suggests that care for creation doesn’t count as a moral value for this president or his allies on Capitol Hill. The United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries reports on their latest assault:

The biblical call to be stewards of God's creation has led people of many faith traditions to oppose opening the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil or gas exploration. This is a national treasure, an ecosystem virtually in its original form. It is currently under threat by a backdoor proposal in the Senate to include a drilling proposal in the budget process and thus avoid a full debate. Let your senators know that you oppose opening ANWR to drilling and development, and further oppose any attempt to slip major policy decisions past the American public.

Click here to send a message to your Congressional representatives asking them to do their part to protect the environment.

Religious leaders – including prominent evangelical Christians – are speaking out on the need for protecting the environment.  The New York Times quotes The Reverend Rich Cizik, vice president of governmental affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals, as saying recently, "I don't think God is going to ask us how he created the earth, but he will ask us what we did with what he created." Over 1,000 mainline religious leaders recently released a statement stating that: “To continue to walk the current path of ecological destruction is not only folly; it is sin.” You cannot find a clearer example of sin than the Republican effort to destroy the environmental health of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Related Post:  Defend God's Creation This November

US AWOL On Kyoto Protocol

Tomorrow 136 nations on earth will enact the environmental protection agreement known as the Kyoto Protocol - designed to help reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.  The United States, under the leadership of George W. Bush, has refused to be a participant in the agreement.  Big polluters, which support the president with large financial contributions, didn't want the agreement to go into effect - they want to keep polluting.  FaithfulAmerica.org ran the following advertisement today to help draw attention to this important issue.

Send the President and Congress a message that environmental protection is important to you as a person of faith.  Click here.

God's Mandate: Care for Creation

Over 1,000 religious leaders released a statement today on the connection between faith and the environment. The National Council of Churches reports:

In an effort to refute what they call a “false gospel” and to change destructive attitudes and actions concerning the environment, a group of theologians, convened by the National Council of Churches USA, released an open letter Feb. 14 calling on Christians to reject teachings that suggest humans are “called” to exploit the Earth without care for how our behavior impacts the rest of God’s creation. The statement, “God’s Earth is Sacred: An Open Letter to Church and Society in the United States,” points out that there is both an environmental and a theological crisis that must be addressed. Read more.

You can download the full statement here.

I signed the statement because of a deep concern – reflected in the statement – that our call from God is to protect and nurture creation. Sadly, political and religious leaders have done the earth great harm through bad theology and bad public policy. Part of the statement reads:

To continue to walk the current path of ecological destruction is not only folly; it is sin. As voiced by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who has taken the lead among senior religious leaders in his concern for creation: “To commit a crime against the natural world is a sin. For humans to cause species to become extinct and to destroy the biological diversity of God’s creation . . . for humans to degrade the integrity of Earth by causing changes in its climate, by stripping the Earth of its natural forests, or destroying its wetlands . . . for humans to injure other humans with disease . . . for humans to contaminate the Earth’s waters, its land, its air, and its life, with poisonous substances . . . these are sins.” We have become un-Creators. Earth is in jeopardy at our hands.

This means that ours is a theological crisis as well. We have listened to a false gospel that we continue to live out in our daily habits-a gospel that proclaims that God cares for the salvation of humans only and that our human calling is to exploit Earth for our own ends alone. This false gospel still finds its proud preachers and continues to capture its adherents among emboldened political leaders and policy makers.

Religious leaders from Oregon are some of the most prominent signers of the letter. Since Oregon is my home state and my affiliation is with the Central Pacific Conference of the United Church of Christ, I wanted to highlight the names of those from Oregon who signed the statement.

Baptist

Glenn E. Camper, Executive Minister Emeritus, American Baptist Churches of Portland, Oregon

Catholic

Sr. Kathleen Carr, BVM, Social Justice Coordinator, St. Mary’s Catholic Church

Joan M. Cassiday, Eucharistic Minister, Christ the King Parish, Archdiocese of Portland

Sr. Patricia Nagle, IHM, Earth Home Ministries, Portland

Todd Schmidt, Youth Ministry Coordinator, St. Mary's Catholic Church

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

Elder Audre Bratcher, First Christian Church, Portland

Rev. Roy L. Helms (Ret.), First Christian Church, Junction City

Episcopal

Tricia Dibblee, Lay Eucharistic Minister, St Bartholomew's Episcopal Church

Mary Eick, Candidate for Holy Orders, St. James Episcopal Church

Rev. Janis Hansen, Deacon, St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, Beaverton

Gail Holcomb, Stephen Minister, Member of the Outreach and Liturgical Committee, St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church

Rev. Laurence F. Mahon, Ordained Deacon, St Mark's Episcopal Church

Deacon Marla McGarry-Lawrence, St. Michael & All Angels Church

Barbara Tensen Ross, Christian Education Coordinator, Episcopal Diocese, of Portland

Rev. Stephen L. Schafroth, Deacon, St. Paul's Episcopal Church

Alice Speers, Convenor, Environmental Commission, Episcopal Diocese of Oregon

Bob Ullman, Eco Justice Leader, St. Michael and All Angels

Jewish

Rabbi Aryeh Hirschfield, Congregation P'nai Or

Rabbi Yizhak Husbands-Hankin, Temple Beth Israel

Lutheran

Rev. Mark Knudson, Augustana Lutheran Church

Jackie McQuiston, Administrative Supervisor for Morrison Child and Family Services, Eco Justice Leader, St. Luke Lutheran Church

Mardy Stevens, Congregational Coordinator, Trinity Lutheran Church

Presbyterian

Vernadine Anderson, Mission/Peace Caring for Creation Coordinator, Westminster Presbyterian

Warren Aney, Chair, Eco-Justice Team, Presbytery of the Cascades Congregational Support Committee

Rev. Ben Dake, First Presbyterian Church, Cottage Grove

Carolyn Lindsey, Eco Justice Leader, Westminster Presbyterian

Joan M. Pierson, Minister at Large, Presbytery of the Cascades

Virginia R Robertson, Board Member, Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, Westminster Presbyterian Church

Martin Thompson, Elder, First Presbyterian Church, Corvallis

Rev. Woodley White, Milwaukie Presbyterian Church

Religious Society of Friends

Cherice Bock, Peace Education Coordinator, Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends

Ralph Beebe, Prof. of History Emeritus, George Fox College, Newberg Friends Church

Jim R. Leeman, Clerk, Peace, Justice and Earth Restored, Reedwood Friends Church

Stan Thornburg, Pastor, North Valley Friends Church

Unitarian Universalist

Sue Staehli, Chair, 2005 Global Warming and Climate Change Conference, First Unitarian Church

Joe Walicki, Chair, Green Sanctuary Program, Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Washington County

United Church of Christ

Eric Canon, Moderator, Forest Grove United Church of Christ

Chuck Currie, Seminarian, Central Pacific Conference United Church of Christ

Rev. Mary Sue Evers, Senior Pastor, Cedar Hills United Church of Christ

Hector E. Lopez, Conference Minister, Central Pacific Conference, United Church of Christ

Jim S. Martin, Moderator, First Congregational United Church of Christ of Ashland

Rev. Cecil Charles Prescod, Director, Public Voice for Peace/Love Makes A Family, Inc., United Church of Christ

Rev. Eugene Ross, Conference Minister, Central Pacific Conference, United Church of Christ

Karl Vercouteren, Pastor, United Church of Christ, Congregational, The Dalles

United Methodist Church

Rev. Ann Bateman, Minister for Servanthood First United Methodist Church, Corvallis

Helen Bennet, Lay Leader, Oregon City United Methodist Church

Pastor Craig Hall Cutting, First United Methodist Church, Albany

Connie Emuson, Chair, Staff-Parish Relations, Oregon City United Methodist Church

Pastor Tom W. Foster (Ret.), Portland First United Methodist Church

Lynne W. Furr, Member, Oregon-Idaho Chapter, Methodist Federation for Social Action

Rev. Vernon Groves, United Methodist, Tigard

Rev. Marcia Hauer, University Park United Methodist Church

Wayne Hill, Retired Minister, Chair of Oregon Interfaith Global Warming Campaign

Patricia S. Hine, M.S., Chair, Creation Care Action Group, First United Methodist Church

David Hites-Clabaugh, Trustee, Forest Grove United Methodist Church

Lucinda Hites-Clabaugh, Certified Lay Speaker, Forest Grove United Methodist Church

Rev. Lisa Jean Hoefner, Executive Director, Camp/Retreat Ministry, Oregon-Idaho Conference United Methodist Church

Louis Jones, Adult Study Leader and Liturgist, Clatskanie United Methodist Church

Sally Jones, Lay Member to Annual Conference, Clatskanie United Methodist Church

David Kenney, Chair, Planet Church Committee, First United Methodist Church

Rev. Paul LaRue, Chair, Church and Society Committee, United Methodist Church of Salem

Lorene J. Lindas, Stephen Ministry Leader, Oregon City United Methodist Church

Rev. Lorenz (Ret.), Hillsboro United Methodist

Rynn Mazur, Former Youth Director and Admin Board Member, Oregon City United Methodist Church

William McCummins, Administrative Council, First United Methodist Church, Salem

Rev. Dr. Ross Miller (Ret.), United Methodist Church of Portland

Rev. Karen Nelson, Pastor of Jason Lee United Methodist Church, Salem

Alice Norris, Chair, Finance Committee, Oregon City United Methodist Church, Mayor of Oregon City

Johnette Orpinela, Lay Leader, St. Paul's United Methodist Church

Marilyn J. Outslay, Chair of Outreach, Portland First United Methodist, Church,

Jane Petke, Camp Director, Suttle Lake United Methodist Camp

Rev. John E. Pitney, Associate Pastor, First United Methodist Church of Eugene

Rev. Barbara Schultz, United Methodist Deacon, Hillsboro United Methodist

Rev. Stuart R. Shaw, Retired Clergy, United Methodist Church, Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference, First United Methodist Church Charge Conference

Ueli Stadler, Lay Member, Lake Oswego UMC

Rev. Wesley Taylor, Pastor, Tualatin United Methodist Church

Rev. Kevin T. Witt, National Camp and Ministry Staff Person, United Methodist Church, General Board of Discipleship

Other

William Brault, Chaplain and Green Team Chair, Unity Church of Portland

Justin Brown, Economics Researcher/Scholar, Watson Foundation

Jeffrey Hammerlund, Chair, Political Affairs Committee, Earth and Spirit Council of Oregon

Jenny Holmes, Environmental Ministries Director, Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, Portland

David Leslie, Executive Director, Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon

Jackie McQuiston, Administrative Supervisor for Morrison Child and Family Services

Dr. Charles Nielsen, Professor Emeritus, Warner Pacific College, Ainsworth United Church of Christ

Rev. Frodo Okulam, Coordinator, SisterSpirit, Special Ministry of Region I, Metropolitan Community Church

Rev. Steve Witte, Executive Director, Oregon Farm Worker Ministry, Woodburn

Those Wacky Green Evangelicals

Are Evangelicals going green? Yes, reports the Washington Post. "The environment is a values issue," said the Rev. Ted Haggard, president of the 30 million-member National Association of Evangelicals. "There are significant and compelling theological reasons why it should be a banner issue for the Christian right."  The big question:  how do they reconcile support for creation with their support for George W. Bush? 

Related Post:  The State of the Union and the Environment: One Christian Response

The State of The Union and The Environment: One Christian Response

President Bush will offer the following words on the environment during his State of the Union address tonight (according to the White House transcript):

To keep our economy growing, we also need reliable supplies of affordable, environmentally responsible energy. Nearly four years ago, I submitted a comprehensive energy strategy that encourages conservation, alternative sources, a modernized electricity grid, and more production here at home, including safe, clean nuclear energy. My Clear Skies legislation will cut power plant pollution and improve the health of our citizens. And my budget provides strong funding for leading-edge technology - from hydrogen-fueled cars, to clean coal, to renewable sources such as ethanol. Four years of debate is enough - I urge Congress to pass legislation that makes America more secure and less dependent on foreign energy.

No one can take the president’s commitment to the basic protect of God’s creation seriously. He has a long record of putting the interests of polluters ahead of clean air and clean water. Just today religious leaders testified before Congress to advocate opposition to the president’s environmental agenda.

Washington, D.C., February 2, 2005--Religious leaders representing the National Council of Churches USA and five of its member denominations have joined together to ask members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to reject the proposed "Clear Skies Act" of 2005. In testimony that was submitted this morning during a full committee hearing today, religious leaders from the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Presbyterian Church (USA), United Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church and NCC, testified against the bill because it fails to implement policies needed to clean up our the nation's air and excludes provisions to address the threat of global warming.

"[W]e believe the legislation delays the critical action necessary to clean up our nation's air and fails altogether to address the real and present threat of global warming. We urge this committee to adopt amendments that would strengthen standards, speed up implementation, and control emissions of carbon dioxide," says the testimony.

In addition, the testimony states that "clean air is a basic right and necessity for all life" and that "we have too often abandoned (our) sacred responsibility . . . leaving a legacy of pollution that threatens the health of communities and the very future of our planet." Citing the harm air pollution can cause humans, including premature deaths, asthmas attacks, and lost productivity, the religious leaders urged Senators to enact strict emission controls to clean the air.

Visit the National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Programs web site to learn more about Christianity and the environment.

Related Post:  Defend God's Creation This November 

Related Link:  Clear Skies Proposal Crafted By Polluters

Global Warming In Our Backyard

Earlier this week it was 75 degrees here in Webster Groves, MO. We took the kids and the dogs out to the Eden campus to play fetch. Later that night we received several inches of rain with some pretty big thunderstorms. The next morning it was snowing and the high temperature - which had been 75 the day before - never reached 30. Missouri isn't the only place getting odd weather this winter. What is the reason? Global warming might be part of it. The National Council of Churches USA Eco-Justice Program reports that "scientists tell us 'global warming is real; the science is sound; and the effects are likely to be severe.' We add 'this is a religious issue!'  We are called to care for all of God's children, especially the most vulnerable, and to protect and restore God's creation. Climate change is a threat to all people and all of creation."  Check out their resource Cry of Creation: an Interfaith Study Guide on Global Warming and see how your congregation can become involved with this issue.  In the meantime, stay warm.  Or cool.  Who knows what tomorrow will bring.