The word "evangelical" gets thrown around a lot these days concerning various Christian groups. Some of the groups mentioned are honest-to-Jesus Bible-thumping hellfire-spouting missionary types, but some of them are just exceptionally conservative Christianists who go to church every Sunday, sit up straight, sing in the choir, and refrain from dancing or drinking. There's a difference, I think. Coming from the Carolina Bible Belt---and being related to a number of Southern Baptists and Republicans----I'd say there is a difference between those and, say, the Pentacostalists.
But I don't suppose it matters. I'm not going to tabulate and classify them; I'm just going to pray that more of them get the prodigious mess in their heads (where the words of Jesus get all mixed up with what their Daddies told them about taxes, capitalism, and the flag) sorted out so they don't keep yanking the country further down the path to dysfunction and dishonor.
There's some reason to believe that some of them are hearing the pleas (or that God is hearing the prayers) of some of their more centrist or even leftward-tilting brethren.
The National Association of Evangelicals, representing roughly 45,000 churches across the U.S. endorsed on Tuesday a declaration against torture put together by Evangelicals for Human Rights – an organization of 17 evangelical scholars – in a striking break from the Bush Administration's policy.
"Tragically, documented cases of torture and inhumane and cruel behaviour have occurred at various sites in the war on terror, and current law opens procedural loopholes for more to continue," the evangelicals' statement declares.
"There is a perception out there in the Middle East that we're willing to accept any action in order to fight this war against terrorism," the NAE's Rev. Rich Cizik told AP. "We are the conservatives – let there be no mistake on that – who wholeheartedly support the war against terror, but that does not mean by any means necessary."
"As American Christians, we are above all motivated by a desire that our nation's actions would be consistent with foundational Christian moral norms," the document adds. "We believe that a scrupulous commitment to human rights, among which is the right not to be tortured, is one of these Christian moral convictions."
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Well, that's progress, even if it ain't exactly progressive. I wonder why they are all so damn set on labelling themselves as "conservative," but it's a big improvement over the sort of cant some of us had resigned ourselves to hearing from the so-called Christian "Right." As Justin Gardner over at centrist blog Donklephant remarks: "Chalk one up for common sense." Furthermore, the NA# has been taking notice of global warming. I mean, that's really all they're doing: suggesting that God, whom they believe intelligently designed the world, might be annoyed if we unintelligently destroy it.
But this, of course, has upset the harder-shelled (and headed) evangelicals, such as James Dobson of Focus on the Family. . According to this article by Brandford Plumer at The New Republic (Inside the Evangelical War Over Climate Change. Greener Pastors):
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[I]n early March, the influential chair of Focus on the Family fired off a very angry letter to the board of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE). Tony Perkins of The Family Research Council signed it. So did Gary Bauer. So did 22 other conservative Christian leaders. Their complaint? It seems that Richard Cizik, NAE's vice-president for governmental affairs, had been sounding the alarm on global warming. For years now, Cizik has ruffled feathers by imploring evangelicals to pay more attention to environmental issues--"creation care," as it's called. But the foray into climate change proved a step too far; the letter-writers called it "divisive and dangerous." A no-no.
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"Why?" you are probably thinking, "In God's name, why?"
[quote begins from article by Brandford Plumer at The New Republic (Inside the Evangelical War Over Climate Change. Greener Pastors)]
Right-wing Christian leaders have ample reason to fear the burgeoning green evangelical movement. A focus on the environment might divert attention away from the issues that really matter--namely, abortion and gay marriage. Worse, eco-minded Christians might start voting for Democrats. Or thinking like environmentalists. The Dobson letter went into hysterics over a speech Cizik gave at the World Bank last year, in which he said, "I'd like to take on the population issue." His critics raged: "[H]ow is population control going to be achieved if not by promoting abortion, the distribution of condoms to the young, and even by infanticide in China and elsewhere?" (Cizik says he was misunderstood, and was merely referring to birth control.)
For all its viciousness, however, the Dobson letter has so far proved something of a damp squib. The NAE's board replied that they stand by Cizik and his work. The organization, which represents some 45,000 churches and 30 million evangelicals, also reaffirmed its commitment to "creation care." Dobson's attack has garnered frowns from fellow evangelicals, many of whom refused to sign the letter. (One of them told me it was "really very vile, not something we expect from brothers and sisters in the faith.") So far, so good for those who think that the Lord's work entails more than obsessing about whether teenagers are having sex.
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Now anything that gets James Dobson's (Mr. Spongebob-Promotes-Alternative (Gay)-Lifestyles) knickers in a twist is okay with me, since I believe that God works in mysterious ways, but is also quite straightforward when there's a message that needs to be heard.
And I do take comfort in seeing that my Christian brethren on the far right are taking tiny, tentative baby steps in putting their larger societal responsibilities before their desire to shove their beliefs down the throats of Americans who do not share their faith. It's what christians on the left have prayed for----and what I feel pretty sure is what Christ would expect of us.
So you see, my skeptical friends, prayer does work. I may not agree with Cizik's definition of what it means to be conservative, but I can get behind any person who raises public awareness (particularly in the segments of society who get all their news from Fox) over what global warming would mean to the planet and the planet's poor.
quote begins from article by Brandford Plumer at The New Republic (Inside the Evangelical War Over Climate Change. Greener Pastors)]
Like many evangelicals now pushing for action on climate change, Cizik remains a staunch conservative, firmly opposed to abortion and gay marriage. He bristles at criticism by Dobson and Perkins that he's trying to divert attention from red-meat issues. "It's not a zero-sum game," he contends. "I actually think evangelical successes in non-traditional areas--such as trafficking and AIDS--have strengthened our hand on domestic policy and will continue to do so." But he also believes that the Bible impels Christians to care for the planet and help the poor, who will be disproportionately affected by warming.To that end, Cizik has teamed up with the EEN to raise awareness about the issue. He helped the NAE draft a platform--adopted in October of 2004--that included an environmental plank. "Because clean air, pure water and adequate resources are crucial to public health and civic order," it read, "government has an obligation to protect its citizens from the effects of environmental degradation." Meanwhile, Cizik was involved in the Evangelical Climate Initiative (ECI), which drafted an even stronger statement in February 2006 declaring climate change "a real problem [that] ought to matter to us as Christians" and calling for mandatory caps on carbon emissions....
Green evangelical leaders are also working to overcome "the general stereotypes of environmentalists that have been perpetuated by Rush Limbaugh and others," as Cizik puts it. "There's this belief that all environmentalists love big government and population planning."
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It is heartening and affirming to find my fellow Christians moving slightly more to the center (as I am trying to do myself), where we might someday find at least some common ground. Okay, maybe not that, but at least we might come within shouting range of each other, so we can exchange views and have dialogues instead of diatribes. I mean, I will try if they will.
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