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Evangelicals Divided Over Global Warming

True believers want to know if the Bible Belt should go green

By Caroline Miller,  Newser Staff

Posted Sep 28, 2007 2:59 PM CDT

(Newser) – Tensions among evangelicals are rising along with the sea level in a battle over whether concern for the environment has a place in houses of worship. Both sides of the widening gulf quote scripture, either to remind that God's plan is unalterable, or to cite the biblical injunction to be "good stewards of God's creation," the Wall Street Journal reports.

Opponents, following the late Jerry Falwell, see global warming as "Satan's attempt to redirect the church's primary focus." Advocates see it as broadening the church's scope beyond the politics of "abortions, judges, and gay marriage," as one evangelical environmentalist put it. There's a a generational element, with younger members rebelling against the party line that environmentalism is a left-wing fetish. And while some churches may go green, other believers anticipate a cataclysmic end of days that can't—and shouldn't—be stopped.

Rich Cizik, left,  with the National Association of Evangelicals,  and James McCarthy, with Harvard University look over Portage Lake, Wednesday Aug. 29, 2007,  near Girdwood, Alaska and talk how Portage Glacier is now hidden behind the point of land under Burns Glacier, left.  Evangelical Christians and prominent scientists are on...
Rich Cizik, left, with the National Association of Evangelicals, and James McCarthy, with Harvard University look over Portage Lake, Wednesday Aug. 29, 2007, near Girdwood, Alaska and talk how Portage...   (Associated Press)
Bacolod Evangelical Church Chancel Choir Pictorial
Bacolod Evangelical Church Chancel Choir Pictorial   (earllamier (YouTube))
EVANGELICAL MISSIONARY CHURCH
EVANGELICAL MISSIONARY CHURCH   ((c) striatic)
Icebergs are seen off Greenland's eastern coast in this July 17, 2007 file photo near the arctic circle. Danish scientists aboard powerful icebreakers head for the Arctic ice pack north of Greenland on Sunday Aug. 12, 2007 seeking evidence to position Denmark in a race to claim the potentially vast...
Icebergs are seen off Greenland's eastern coast in this July 17, 2007 file photo near the arctic circle. Danish scientists aboard powerful icebreakers head for the Arctic ice pack north of Greenland on...   (Associated Press)
Icebergs float in a bay off Ammassalik Island, Greenland, July 19, 2007. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told an unprecedented summit on climate change Monday Sept. 24, 2007 that the time for doubt has passed and a breakthrough is needed in global talks to sharply reduce emissions of global-warming gases....
Icebergs float in a bay off Ammassalik Island, Greenland, July 19, 2007. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told an unprecedented summit on climate change Monday Sept. 24, 2007 that "the time for doubt...   (Associated Press)
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