The Science Is Not Settled

About global warming: this is part of what we stand to lose:



It's Encyclia tampensis, an orchid native to Florida. Yeah -- one of ours. So I was happy to see this story in NYT. It just reminds us that no group is monolithic.

Despite opposition from some of their colleagues, 86 evangelical Christian leaders have decided to back a major initiative to fight global warming, saying "millions of people could die in this century because of climate change, most of them our poorest global neighbors."

However . . .

Some of the nation's most high-profile evangelical leaders, however, have tried to derail such action. Twenty-two of them signed a letter in January declaring, "Global warming is not a consensus issue." Among the signers were Charles W. Colson, the founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries; James C. Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family; and Richard Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.

OK -- the "consensus issue" thing is kind of loopy on a couple of counts: the overwhelming majority of governments in the world think that global warming presents enough of a danger that we need to take steps. That's enough of a consensus for me.

Second, it's just a sloppy statement. What do we need consensus about, specifically? The fact of global warming? More and more indicators seem to point that way. Agreement on the steps to be taken? See the paragraph above: cut emissions of greenhouse gases, per the Kyoto Accord.

I also find it instructive that the people opposed to this particular initiative are among those who are most ideologically extreme and the most politically driven on the right. They also represent that segment of the Christian community who still hold that the world is here for our exploitation, which is not only selfish but short-sighted. However. . . .

E. Calvin Beisner, associate professor of historical theology at Knox Theological Seminary in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., helped organize the opposition into a group called the Interfaith Stewardship Alliance. He said Tuesday that "the science is not settled" on whether global warming was actually a problem or even that human beings were causing it. And he said that the solutions advocated by global warming opponents would only cause the cost of energy to rise, with the burden falling most heavily on the poor.

I'm not going to rely on a historian of theology to make that assessment for me without knowing a lot more about his qualifications. Besides, science is never settled. It's not dogma, no matter what some from the Christianist camp (which includes, as far as I'm concerned, those mentioned as opposing this move) would like you to believe. Of course, I can see how those who believe so strongly in authority and received wisdom would fall into that error. [/end snark]

At any rate, I am very happy to see the evangelical community get behind something besides stripping gays and lesbians of basic human rights and rewriting science to suit scripture, and I'm even happier that this is getting some coverage in the MSM. It's about time we heard about some of the positive things coming out of the evangelical camp, because there are many good things that evangelicals are doing.