WASHINGTON: The National Association of Evangelicals has reiterated that it considers environmental protection as a moral issue, dismissing a recent denouncement of the association by several leading conservative Christian leaders for calling for attention on global warming.
Recently, Christian radio commentator James Dobson and several conservative leaders like Gary Bauer, Tony Perkins and Paul Weyrich had sent a letter to the association, criticizing the association's vice president Rev Richard Cizik, for his call on tackling global warming.
The board of directors of the association has now reaffirmed a 2004 position paper it had adopted, which had outlined seven areas of civic responsibility for evangelicals -- creation care (meaning environmental protection), religious freedom, nurturing the family, sanctity of life, compassion for the poor, human rights and restraining violence.
President of the association Rev. Leith Anderson said the board meeting on Friday at Minneapolis did not specifically respond to the letter from the conservative group, but it reaffirmed the position paper, titled "For the Health of the Nations."
Dobson and others in the letter had said evangelicals are divided on whether
climate change is a real problem and said Cizik and his followers are using the
global warming controversy to shift the emphasis away from the "great moral issues of our time," like abortion and gay activism.
The letter also called for Cizik's resignation from his position if he cannot be trusted to articulate the views of American evangelicals on environmental issues.
Anderson said Cizik had briefed the board through a report on the work he had done in
Washington for governmental affairs and that there is no effort to reprimand him.
Many observers feel the issue highlights the schism in the movement created by hardline conservatives for whom issues like abortion and same sex marriage gain precedence over issues like
AIDS epidemic or the environmental degradation caused by man's actions.
The letter writers -- who are activists with political connections and not only religious leaders -- have said they are dismayed that an evangelical emphasis on global warming was "contributing to growing confusion about the very term 'evangelical.' “They accused Cizik of dividing and demoralizing Christians by pushing his agenda on global warming and urged the association to silence him.
