God's creation versus global warming is an issue the religious community grapples with. Even though conservative Christians have traditionally been skeptical about the validity of man-made climate change, more recent official church statements recommend a more environmentally conscious role be taken by believers.
Here are seven different stances by various Christian denominations.
1. An illustration of this attitude change is the statement Pope Francis, made in February during a morning Mass, "A Christian who does not protect creation, who does not let it grow, is a Christian who does not care about the work of God; that work that was born from the love of God for us."
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2. Southern Baptists, known as some of America’s most conservative voices, addressed the issue after engaging in “study, reflection and prayer related to the environment and climate change issues."
"These things have not always been treated with pressing concern as major issues. Indeed, some of us have required considerable convincing before becoming persuaded that these are real problems that deserve our attention. But now we have seen and heard enough to be persuaded that these issues are among the current era’s challenges that require a unified moral voice. To abandon these issues to the secular world is to shirk from our responsibility to be salt and light. The time for timidity regarding God’s creation is no more,” the statement continued.
3. The Evangelical Environmental Network released a statement titled “An Evangelical Declaration on the Care of Creation” make the Christian case for environmental action. “Because we have sinned, we have failed in our stewardship of creation. Therefore we repent of the way we have polluted, distorted, or destroyed so much of the creator's work,” the statement said.
4. Even Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition lobbied for a bill in 2009 and 2010,
according to The New York Times.
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5. In 2011, the United Church of Christ passed a resolution that impacts how Christians should relate to the environment.
"People of faith are called to be humble stewards of the natural systems of which they are a part. … Every generation and every person has the ethical responsibility to determine their … own response to God's gift of creation and to see if their daily practices hurt or enhance what God has given to all."
In 2013,
the United Church of Christ's 29th Synod passed a resolution on fossil fuel divestment that supports “the healing of the world.”
In divesting in fossil fuels and lobbying for better answers for environmental stewardship, the group "remains profoundly concerned about the disproportionate impact climate change is already having on those living in poverty … and recognizes the moral mandate for humanity to shift to a sustainable energy plan in a way that is both just and compassionate.”
6. In 2010,
the 219th Presbyterian Church General Assembly approved a recommendation to “restore creation” by working to improve environmental policy and behaviors.
7. Last year,
The New York Times reported religious conservatives were embracing the fight against pollution and quotes religious leaders representing a dozen churches – including Evangelicals, who spoke at Environmental Protection agency hearings.
The Rev. Richard Cizik, former lobbyist for the National Association of Evangelicals, said, “I have been called by God to speak out on these issues and believe it is my conviction as an evangelical Christian that we must be stewards of God’s creation.”
However, recent Pew Research Center polls show that up to a third of white evangelical Protestants are still skeptical about the validity of climate change, even though the National Association of Evangelicals began advocating climate change policy during the George W. Bush administration.
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