3 posts tagged “environmentalist”

clipped from www.nytimes.com The Rev. Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in Orange County, Calif., has encouraged fellow evangelicals to work to eradicate AIDS in Africa. The evangelical Christian movement, which has been pivotal in reshaping the country’s political landscape since the 1980s, has shifted in potentially momentous ways in recent years, broadening its agenda and exposing new fissures. The death of the Rev. Jerry Falwell last week highlighted the fact that many of the movement’s fiery old guard who helped lead conservative Christians into the embrace of the Republican Party are aging and slowly receding from the scene. In their stead, a new generation of leaders who have mostly avoided the openly partisan and confrontational approach of their forebears have become increasingly influential.

Whether you believe in "global warming" or not it is a reality in the mind of our world and becoming a more pressing one at that. American Evangelical Christians are one of the least involved people as an organization in preserving or bettering the environment. Many Christian groups even minimize the issue and dismiss it altogether as a political construct. Though this is starting to change.

There are a few reasons that come to mind that may contribute to this indifference among us: 1) Evangelicals have a traditional and deep rooted affiliation with right wing politics which in the past has argued the validity of environmental concerns. Under this influence they parrot statements fed to them that dismiss or minimize any impending danger we may face. This is a great article here regarding the dilemma facing leaders today and the alignment with political bodies. 2) Many are affected adversely by their belief that the world will one day fall into destruction and be done away with by God and that the world will waste away under his judgment. This belief of course can attribute to a careless attitude toward the earth due to the impending doom already set before it.

Whether political or religious, the church is suffering for having such views. Our indifference in the eyes of the world is that we are insensitive, selfish and even hateful to turn a deaf ear to what they view as a very moral issue. Even if there is absolutely no credibility to what now has become an almost unanimous consent from the scientific community that this threat is very real we would be insane not to consider the affects our indifference has on the world's perception of the church.

The Church is asking people to believe in Christ. This request however has nested within it another question and that is for people to believe in itself as the Church. If people don't trust us they will be hindered from trusting the one we direct them to. This being said, our platform and credibility (perceived value and truthfulness fostering trust) is of the utmost importance when it comes to winning people. The perception people have and the story our culture has about the church is critical to us and we ought to be concerned about it if we really care to connect with people. Our attitude and response to this issue is damaging our platform even galvanizing an already negative story about us and our motives.

There are three things the church needs to consider before it concludes that it wants to be non-environmental: 1) Our indifference is being viewed as immoral, insensitive and selfish by the majority of the people in our nation. 2) Our indifference is communicating to the outsiders we don't care about the condition of the earth our children and grandchildren will inherit. 3) Our indifference and inaction is being perceived as wastefulness, destructiveness, greed, and violence against nature (creation) and therefore paints the picture of hypocrisy for those that claim a love for the Creator. This may not be the reality but this is the perception of those that see this as a concern.

I am writing this so that we may consider what our attitude, actions and policies have on our ultimate goal of reaching people. I would also like to add that even though my approach has focused on the result of indifference we should also give more credence to the prospect of global warming being an actual danger and crisis. Truthfully we have not listened or heard the very large community of educated people on this point and trusted great story tellers with political agendas to communicate critical issues to us. We must get more objective and approach this in a more humble manner or else we risk losing our platform or even worse. What would happen if we chose to "go green?"