Now the truth is finally out, thanks to a recent sermon by Moral Majority founder Jerry Falwell. It turns out that it's Satan who is fomenting all the debate over global warming, because it distracts Christians from their true calling: winning over souls for Christ.
So, first he invented the Internet, and now he's leading Christians like Jim Wallis, a leading "creation care" advocate, down a path of evil...
The debate, Falwell said in a sermon at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, "is Satan's attempt to redict the church's primary focus . . . The idea is to divert your energies from the message and the mission and the vision of the church to something less . . . If I decide here as the pastor and our deacons decide that we're going to get caught up in the global warming thing, we're not going to be able to reach the masses of souls for Christ, because our attention will be elsewhere."
Falwell's attack comes as millions of evangelical Christians are getting the message from preachers like Wallis that preserving creation is a moral imperative. In his blog last week, Wallis stood up to Falwell and other bullies on the religious right who are trying to torpedo the creation care movement to cover up their own hypocrisy. "Once again, the hard-core Religious Right has gone on the attack, orchestrating a new campaign to advance their Far Right political views," Wallis wrote. "In a letter to the chairman of the National Evangelical Association Board, James Dobson, Tony Perkins, Gary Bauer, and their cohorts claim that 'The existence of global warming and its implications for mankind is a subject of heated controversy throughout the world.'”
Wallis goes on to show just how silly that statement is. And he got some powerful support from Bill McKibben, author of the new book, Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future, in a guest blog a few days ago:
"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. Rich Cizik [vice president of the National Association of Evangelicals] has been faithful in reading the signs of the times, and so it is unsurprising he is under attack. But one way or another, his moral clarity will prevail."
The moral and religious debate over global warming has clearly become quite political — and nasty. In his sermon, Falwell says "naive Christian leaders are . . . being duped. It should be expected that liberal clergymen and theologians would join in concert with Hollywood and liberal politicans on every radical and hurtful issue that arises." He goes on to refer to "extremist ecologists" who are seeking to advance a Godless agenda. They are, he says, "obnoxious radicals." And not surprisingly, he even resorts to red-baiting, referring to "good evangelical scientists" who are doing God's work by reubutting "those other green and maybe red scientists and politicians."
Isn't it fun now that we no longer have to cover global warming as a simplistic "yes or no?" debate? Thank you Jerry Falwell for helping to open up a rich new field of coverage!
2 comments:
While Jerry Falwell’s comments indeed make great blog fodder, it’s important to note that his influence within the Religious Right has been greatly diminished in recent years. Many conservative Christians have been embarrassed by Falwell’s outrageous statements, and plenty of contemporary evangelical leaders would seek to distance themselves from his views. James Dobson, however, is another story, and that is why he is the primary target of Jim Wallis’s blog critique. Millions of American evangelicals are faithful to the views and direction of Dobson’s Focus on the Family empire. While Dobson may not garner as many media headlines as Falwell’s provocative prose, his status dwarfs that of Falwell, and he is the true force to be reckoned with on the Christian right. Even so, as Wallis contends and this blog reiterates, Dobson is increasingly out of step with the trend among evangelicals toward active environmental stewardship.
Most Americans believe in global warming, according to the latest FOX News poll, and a majority thinks it is caused at least in part by human behavior, though many believe normal climate patterns are a factor.
The national poll, conducted before the release of the United Nations’ report on climate change last week, finds that fully 82 percent of Americans say they believe in global warming, up from 77 percent in October 2005, while 10 percent disagree and 8 percent are unsure.
Democrats (91 percent) and independents (84 percent) are much more likely to say global warming exists than Republicans (72 percent), although sizable majorities of all demographic groups are in agreement.
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