Evangelicals jumping on the ecological bandwagon

The Sierra Club, as you know, is about environmentalism and care of the earth.

A megaton of Christian "evangelicals" have not only not shown much interest in preserving the environment or caring for the earth, but have actually gone out of their way to preach against both, some because they've adopted the politics of the Republican Party and merged them with their religion, and others because they figure Jesus is coming back soon, so why worry about the environment.

(A clarification: It has been claimed that James Watt, former Secretary of the Interior, 1981 to 1983, under the late, not-so-great, B-grade movie actor president, Ronald Reagan, said something to the effect that environmental concern was unnecessary as Jesus would return soon so why worry? Actually, Mr. Watt claims he never believed anything like that and he never said anything like that.)

Nevertheless, Republicans and Christian rightists in the past few decades have been less than enthusiastic about taking care of the environment. In the case of Republicans, it's always about the "rights" of the corporations that would strip our forests bare, or scorch the earth with their mining policies, or befog the air with ghastly gasseous emissions that cause global warming. The Christian right, which is for all practical purposes, an "unofficial" adjunct to the Republican Party, honks that same horn.

Would you believe the Sierra Club has hooked up with an "evangelical" Christian on the issue of conservation of the earth? Actually, that isn't all that surprising in light of the fact that more and more "evangelical" Christians are "testifying that their faith encourages responsible stewardship of the earth -- a goal environmentalists of every creed share."

One of these evangelicals has written a new book, and the latest issue of the Sierra Club magazine details how "the Sierra Club is cosponsoring an 11-city book tour for pastor Brian McLaren's "Everything Must Change" (Thomas Nelson, 2007). McLaren argues that a 'holistic, integral, balanced' Christian faith can address social inequities and environmental degredation. By recognizing that solutions must be spiritual as well as political and economic, 'we have the possibility for a real change of consciousness,' McClaren said in an interview on Sierra Club Radio."

I'm not sure what he means by "solutions must be spiritual..." but the fact that someone of McLaren's stature in the evangelical movement is arguing evangelicals need to become engaged in the fight to save the earth is a positive step.

It will be even more positive if evangelicals decide to become Democrats or at least vote for Democratic candidates in November. That would be a really impressive step toward a "spiritual ... political and economic" solution!


You can read about Brian McLaren here.

This site contains an interesting Interview with Mr. McLaren.