Friday, June 29, 2007

House Passes Climate Bill; Christians Still Divided on Issue

The Christian Post reported that the U.S. House has passed a bill providing funds to mitigate damages from climate change:
WASHINGTON – The contentious debate over whether global warming exists and its primary cause came to a close Thursday – at least in the U.S. House – when a passed legislation recognized the “reality” of climate change and called for billions to remedy the problem.
In a vote of 272-155, the U.S. House of representatives passed an environmental funding bill that would provide $27.6 billion for federal investments in research on climate change and create a new commission to review scientific questions, according to Reuters.
Climate change was stated to be a “reality” in a declaration within the House bill, despite the White House’s long held questions on whether there is sufficient scientific evidence to back the claim.
The climate change debate, which Christians also refer to as the creation care issue, has also deeply divided believers who, moreso than whether global warming exists, are perplexed if man should be primarily blame for the warming of the earth.
In a Senate hearing earlier this month, a panel composed of mostly Christian leaders across the denominational lines exemplified the differences in opinion on the issue.
While some Christian leaders, such as Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, strongly declared that global warming is real and humans are mainly to be blamed for the problem, others, such as the Southern Baptist representative disagreed.
Dr. Russell Moore, dean of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, contended that although the Southern Baptist Convention and other evangelical groups are not opposed to environmental protection, science does not absolutely support humans being the main cause of warming.
He also criticized Christian leaders who used the “authority of the Bible” to support their “shifting and revisable” global warming agenda as “trivializing” to the Christian faith.
Still, despite the ongoing debate, many prominent evangelicals have climbed onboard the green bandwagon calling for a cut in carbon emission – the main contributor of greenhouse gases. These leaders include the Rev. Richard Cizik, the National Association of Evangelicals vice president; Pastor Rick Warren, author of the Purpose Driven Life; and Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill., near Chicago.

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

As you know, Bill Clinton signed the Kyoto Protocol way back in 1998, but the Senate has not taken any action on ratifying it. Everyone needs to contact their senators and ask them why, and urge them to start work on it now.

We can't wait for George Bush to do it. It's getting hot NOW!