Faith Leaders Prove It's Possible to Believe in God and Climate Change
Leaders from several Christian groups will prove that an aversion to science isn't a prerequisite to believing in God this week when they testify in favor of proposed carbon emission regulations.
As the Environmental Protection Agency holds public hearings over its proposed cuts (30 percent by 2030), more than two dozen interfaith activists will sing the praises of the Obama administration's climate change policies, according to The New York Times. “I have been called by God to speak out on these issues and believe it is my conviction as an evangelical Christian that we must be stewards of God’s creation,” Rev. Richard Cizik, the president of the New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good wrote in his prepared remarks.
That's a far cry from Alabama public employees asking residents to pray for coal on Tuesday. The Alabama incident represents the usual reaction from the religious right: the government's efforts to fight climate change are job killers, Big Government at its worst and an affront to God's work ("Who has the right to take what God's given a state?" one official said.)
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What's clear is that there is a small movement within religious circles to acknowledge the human costs of climate change, like food scarcity and increased natural disasters. As Katharine Hayhoe, an evangelical Christian and climate scientist, told Slate earlier this year, conserving finite resources is a conservative idea. More importantly, believing in climate change ultimately comes down to believing you should care for the gift God gave the world. "Treating the world like garbage says a lot about how you think about the person who you believe created the Earth,” Hayhoe said.
This article was originally published at http://www.thewire.com/politics/2014/07/faith-leaders-prove-its-possible-to-believe-in-god-and-climate-change/375328/
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