Recently a number of conservative Southern Baptist leaders endorsed the document, “A Southern Baptist Declaration on the Environment and Climate Change,” which asserts: “We believe our current denominational engagement with [climate change] issues has often been too timid, failing to produce a unified moral voice. Our cautious response to these issues in the face of mounting evidence may be seen by the world as uncaring, reckless and ill-informed. We can do better.”
Although many of the signers are my friends and respected colleagues, I am writing to say why I will not sign the document, and why I wish they had not.
First, the fundamental assumption of the declaration is predicated on a seriously flawed understanding of the debate regarding climate change. It affirms the view that human-induced, catastrophic global warming is an undeniable fact. Some of the signers have implied that the declaration is neutral on the question of the imminent threat of global warming. The clear language of the declaration is anything but neutral:
- “We recognize that if consensus means unanimity, there is not a consensus regarding the anthropogenic nature of climate change or the severity of the problem. There is general agreement among those engaged with this issue in the scientific community.”
- “Though the claims of science [affirming catastrophic global warming] are neither infallible nor unanimous, they are substantial….”
- “… we resolve to engage this issue without any further lingering over the basic reality of the problem…”
Hardly neutral, the declaration has staked out a definite position which is simply untenable. There is no “general agreement” in the scientific community on any facet of this subject. There is evidence of growing dissatisfaction in the scientific community with the claims that global warming 1) is caused by human factors; 2) has any alarming consequences; 3) can be altered by a change in human behavior; and 4) should provoke the kind of draconian economic and political actions being currently proposed by many environmental activists.
Second, the declaration gives little evidence of serious interaction with even the most basic arguments on the other side of the debate. For example, the declaration did not appear to take into account any of the analyses produced by the Cornwall Alliance–a coalition of scholars and religious leaders that has addressed the flawed positions of the “Evangelical Climate Initiative” which preceded the most recent declaration and which meandered down the same errant paths. . . .
Should Southern Baptists be more engaged with environmental issues? Any issue presented for action by the convention ought to pass at least two tests:
1) Is it a real and pressing problem? Is it right to shout “fire” in a crowded theatre? Only if there really is a fire. Otherwise, raising the alarm is the only real danger. Is climate change more important than, say, world hunger and economic stability in the third world? It is now clear that suggested solutions to the non-problem of global warming would have devastating consequences for national economies, especially in the poorest countries.
2) Is it the business of the church? Should Southern Baptists have a “unified moral voice” on the right to get prescription drugs from Canada? Or on the European Union? Or on the value of NAFTA? There are any number of weighty matters which could consume the attention of the church, but some things are off-message. Climate change is such an issue. Southern Baptists leaders should be careful not to rally our people to a cause that is not only suspect in its reality but also a distraction to our real work.
In appropriate measure, Southern Baptists should, especially in light of the confusion created by the climate change furor, carefully articulate an ecological theology. There is a wealth of theological resources in the Scriptures that guide us. . . .
Related items:
Full Text of SBECI Declaration
Baptist Press, March 10, 2008
Official Position of the Southern Baptist Convention
Southern Baptist Convention, June, 2007
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