Home / Not Too Verbose / Leading Evangelical Experts Call Global Warming Policies “Destructive,” “Detrimental to the Poor”
If you are an evangelical, are reading this, and you are living in the land of the long white cloud, such may come as news to you!
The reason why this may be the case is that the evangelical church seems to be singing off the same song sheet as those who affirm climate change as apocalyptic… and here was I thinking that it was only us Pre-Millennials who were guilty of scary end-times scenarios. This may sound reasonable to you, but slow down Tonto!
Be that as it may, and to give you some more perspective, and God willing, encourage you to pursue truth in a much greater fashion, than merely turning on your Television, an organisation which I have spoken about, The Cornwall Alliance… gotta love that video when you go to their site… well, anyway, this organisation has recently released these details about their upcoming reaffirmation and extension of a previous declaration…
Have a read of the following…
The Renewed Call to Truth exposes the absurdity of global warming alarmism. The idea that affordable, abundant energy from fossil fuels is causing dangerous global warming is losing credibility among scientists and causing serious debate among economists.
“We believe global warming alarmism fails the tests of science, economics, and theology,” states Dr. Beisner. “The whole notion of dangerous climate change rests on poor science that confuses theory with observation, computer models with reality, and model results with evidence. It rests on poor economics, failing to do rational cost/benefit analysis, ignoring or underestimating the costs of reducing fossil fuel use while exaggerating the benefits. And it rests on poor theology, with a worldview of the Earth and its climate system contrary to that taught in the Bible.”
The Cornwall Alliance’s findings show that global warming policies would produce unethical results that would:
- destroy millions of jobs.
- cost trillions of dollars in lost economic production.
- slow, stop, or reverse economic growth.
- reduce the standard of living for all but the elite few who are well positioned to benefit from laws that unfairly advantage them.
- endanger liberty by putting vast new powers over private, social, and market life in the hands of national and international governments.
- condemn the world’s poor to generations of continued misery characterized by rampant disease and premature death.
“In return for all these sacrifices,” Beisner asks, “what will the world get? At most a negligible, undetectable reduction in global average temperature a hundred years from now.”
“The Renewed Call to Truth is a landmark document,” says Beisner. “Building on more recent studies in science, economics, and theology, it goes well beyond our previous Call to Truth and takes a stronger position. Before, we said natural causes might account for a major part, perhaps a majority, of recent climate change. Now we’re convinced they’re the overwhelming cause and human activities are at most a minor contributor. New economic studies also make clear the enormous costs of reducing carbon dioxide emissions, while atmospheric studies show that such reductions would have little if any impact on future temperatures. That makes us all the more sure that such policies are wrongheaded, destructive, and detrimental to the poor.”
Along with the release of the study, the Cornwall Alliance is unveiling An Evangelical Declaration on Global Warming, for which it is gathering endorsements from evangelical scholars, scientists, economists, pastors and other ministry leaders.
According to Beisner, “The Evangelical Declaration on Global Warming rests on the solid findings of the Renewed Call to Truth, so evangelicals can be confident that it represents outstanding theology, science, and economics.”
Research shows declining support for global warming policies, with a pronounced drop among evangelicals. In January the Pew Center for the People and the Press found that climate ranks dead last in a list of thirty policy priorities, and in March Gallup recorded “the highest level of public skepticism about mainstream reporting on global warming seen in more than a decade of Gallup polling on the subject.” Every credible study in the last two years has demonstrated that evangelicals, especially, are wary of this issue; the authors of a Calvin College study were shocked to find a 10-point drop in evangelical support for environmental regulations “despite the efforts of many Evangelical Protestant leaders.”
John Sparks, Dean of Arts and Letters at Grove City College, called the Evangelical Declaration on Global Warming “Biblically and scientifically sound—a remarkable combination of right reason and Scriptural understanding,”
Since 2005, the Cornwall Alliance has emerged as the go-to voice for the mainstream evangelical perspective on issues of environmental stewardship and development. Over 180 experts signed the original Call to Truth, Prudence, and Protection of the Poor: An Evangelical Response to Global Warming (http://www.CornwallAlliance.org/call-to-truth), and thousands of pastors, evangelical leaders, and laymen have joined major Christian organizations in the WeGetIt.org campaign (http://www.WeGetIt.org).
I encourage you to also go and check out the We Get It site that was referenced at the end of the quotation for yourself!
The original… A Call to Truth, Prudence and Protection of the Poor was published in 2006, so it is good that there will be an updated version, particularly in light of the present developing events!
If you are satisfied with the science>politics>policy proposed in the present debate, than this may not be your cup of “iced” tea, but it may be a catalyst to help challenge your “unchallenged” presuppositions by those who may be in your Evangelical team!
Stay tuned, because the next post will have all the details of where you can download this document!!!
However, to whet your appetite, here are some of the (maybe) more well-known names who originally signed off and endorsed the first, A Call to Truth…
Adel Abadeer, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Economics, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI
Randy Alcorn, D.D., Director, Eternal Perspective Ministries
Gregg R. Allison, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Christian Theology, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Ted Baehr, President, Christian Film and Television Commission, Camarillo, CA
E. Calvin Beisner, Ph.D., Ministerial Assistant, Holy Trinity Presbyterian Church, Broward County, FL; National Spokesman, Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation
Rev. James A. Borland, Ph.D., Professor of New Testament and Theology, Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA
D. A. Carson, Ph.D., Research Professor of New Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, IL
Richard C. Chewning, Ph.D., Emeritus Professorof Christian Ethics, Baylor University, Waco, TX, and Distinguished Scholar in Residence, John Brown University, Siloam Springs, AR
Michael Cromartie, Vice President, Ethics and Public Policy Center, Washington, D.C.
William B. Evans, Ph.D., Younts Professor of Bible and Religion, Erskine College, Due West, SC
Alan Gomes, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Department of Theology, Talbot School of Theology (Biola University), La Mirada, CA
Rev. Wayne Grudem, Ph.D., Research Professor of Bible and Theology, Phoenix Seminary, Phoenix, AZ
Daniel R. Heimbach, Ph.D., Professor of ChristianEthics, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wake Forest, NC
Rev. H. Wayne House, Ph.D., Distinguished Research Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies, Faith Evangelical Seminary, Tacoma, WA and Salem, OR, and Adjunct Professor of Law, Trinity Law School, Trinity International University, Santa Ana, CA
Rev. Peter Jones, Ph.D., Director, Christian Witness to a Pagan Planet, Adjunct Professor and Scholar in Residence, Westminster Theological Seminary, Escondido, CA
C. Ben Mitchell, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Bioethics & Contemporary Culture, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois; Director, M.A. Program in Communication and Culture; Editor, Ethics & Medicine: An International Journal of Bioethics
Russell D. Moore, Ph.D., Senior Vice President for Academic Administration, Dean, School of Theology, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; Executive Director, Carl F. H. Henry Institute for Evangelical Engagement, Louisville, KY
Rev. Joseph A. Pipa, Jr., Ph.D., President and Professor of Systematic Theology, Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Greenville, SC
Rev. W. Duncan Rankin, Ph.D., Minister, Covenant Presbyterian Church, Oak Ridge, TN, and Adjunct Professor of Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, MS
Rev. Robert L. Reymond, Ph.D., Regular Supply Pastor, Holy Trinity Presbyterian Church, Broward County, FL; Former Professor of Systematic Theology, Covenant Theological Seminary, St. Louis, MO, and Knox Theological Seminary, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Jay W. Richards, Ph.D., Research Fellow, Acton Institute, Grand Rapids, MI
Roy W. Spencer, Ph.D. (Climatology), principal research scientist, University of Alabama, Huntsville, former senior scientist for climate studies, Marshall Space Flight Center, NASA
David Wells, Ph.D., Andrew Mutch Distinguished Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, South Hamilton, MA
Stay Tuned, If You So Choose, You are About To Get Reading!
Until Next Time
I am Jonny King
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