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Can an evangelical Christian leader work for the stewardship of creation, or must he stick to the narrow focus of the family
-- abortion, homosexuals, and sexual abstinence?
There is a healthy debate stirring within the evangelical Christian community following a power play by some of the big
names of the religious right who have attempted to force the ouster of the Rev. Richard Cizik from his office with the National
Association of Evangelicals. Cizik's sin? Encouraging Christians to respond to the evidence of global climate change. Such
a radical notion of environmental stewardship is seen as "a threat to the unity and integrity" of the evangelical
association by twenty-five signers of a letter urging the ouster of Rev. Cizik.
The first four signers of the letter are Tupelo, Mississippi's Don Wildmon of the American Family Association, Tony Perkins
of the Family Research Council, James Dobson of Focus on the Family, and Gary Bauer from Coalitions for America. The good
news is that these religious leaders recognize that "it does appear that the earth is warming," but they reject
the international consensus of climate experts that human beings are contributing to these changes. For me this is another
troubling consequence of the anti-science bias common among some religious conservatives. But it is encouraging that other
religious conservatives are taking on the old guard.
Evangelical preacher Jim Wallis of Sojourners has challenged James Dobson to a debate. "I happen to believe that
the sanctity of life, the health of marriages, and teaching sexual morality to our children are, indeed, among the great moral
issues of our time," says Wallis. "But I believe they are not the only great moral issues, and Dobson says they
are... What are the great moral issues of our time for evangelical Christians?"
The Dobson group's letter objects to environmentalists' concerns about over-population: "We ask, how 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?" The question betrays "a rather limited imagination," says emergent church evangelical
Brian McLaren. He says the letter's question offers an opportunity for evangelicals to learn about some good answers regarding
population control. As anyone familiar with the study of the effects of poverty on birth rates can tell you, population growth
slows when poor women have more education and more employment opportunities, when poor children have access to better health
care, and when wages increase so poor families can support themselves, especially as they age. If you want to reduce unwanted
pregnancies and lower abortion rates, work to support the kind of poverty initiatives that the Millennium Development Goals
represent.
Methodist environmentalist Bill McKibbin says that "Dobson, Falwell, and their ilk are the voice of a Christianity
so deeply compromised by its embrace of American materialism that it needs to treat as a threat our brothers and sisters in
Christ who come bearing the news of physics and chemistry."
The man in the crosshairs of the Dobson group, Richard Cizik, is a pro-Bush, Biblically based conservative minister who
opposes abortion, gay marriage and embryonic stem-cell research. He sees the environmental crisis as one of "biblical
proportions." He has articulated a theology of "creation care" based on the biblical command of Genesis 2:15
"to watch over and care for" the earth and its creatures, and the warning from Revelation 11:18 that "God will
destroy those who destroy the earth." Cizik asserts that "the Bible also teaches us that Jesus Christ is not only
redeeming his people, but also restoring God's creation. ...Christ's call to love nature is as simple as his call to love
our neighbors as ourselves." He asks Christians to embrace personal acts of conservation and environmental stewardship
and to "urge government to encourage fuel efficiency, reduce pollution, encourage sustainable use of natural resources,
and provide for the proper care of wildlife and their natural habitats. ...It's in the scriptures. Read the Bible,"
he says.
That's a threatening message to the Dobson-Wildmon-Perkins-Bauer group who want to reduce the whole Christian agenda to
abortion, homosexuals, and abstinence. They've called for Cizik's head. But other evangelicals are rallying to Cizik's support
and also inviting a conversation to free the evangelical movement from its singular obsession with sex.
Jim Wallis asks what is important to God? "Is the fact that 20,000 children will die globally today, and everyday,
from needless hunger and disease a great moral issue for evangelical Christians? How about the reality of 3 billion of God's
children living on less than $2 per day? And isn't the still-widespread and needless poverty in our own country, the richest
nation in the world, a moral scandal? ...If the scientific consensus is right -- climate change is real, is caused substantially
by human activity, and could result in hundreds of thousands of deaths -- then isn't that also a great moral issue?"
Great questions. Let's hope they find traction in the evangelical community to help the Church broaden the Biblical message
in support of Christ's mission that we "may have life and have it abundantly." (John 10:10)
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