WASHINGTON – Evangelical Christians are more skeptical than other Christians and American adults overall about the severity of global warming, a new study showed.
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(Photo: AP Images / Rob Griffith, File)With a melting ice relief featuring a caricature of U.S. President George W. Bush, an environmental activist donning a polar bear costume stages an anti-global warming demonstration in Sydney, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2007.
Only 33 percent of evangelical Christians view global warming as a "major" problem facing the country compared to people of other faiths or of no religion in which over half say it's severe, according to The Barna Group.
Among non-evangelical born-again Christians, 55 percent say global warming is a major problem and 59 percent of notional Christians agree. Overall, 51 percent of the nation's Christian community view global warming as severe while 42 percent assign the largely debated issue less importance.
Meanwhile, 62 percent of those associated with a faith other than Christianity and 69 percent of atheists and agnostics describe global warming as a major problem.
Catholics (59 percent) showed more concern about global warming than Protestants (52 percent). And mainline Protestants (59 percent) also expressed greater alarm than did non-mainline Protestants (49 percent).
"The survey confirms that Americans disagree about climate change," said David Kinnaman, who directed the study. "Each faith audience interacts with the concept of global warming in distinct ways. Evangelicals would rather think about other things. Non-evangelicals say the environment is important to them, yet they are far from convinced that global warming is as important as everyone says. By contrast, many non-Christians view global climate alterations as the central element of their environmental engagement."
Other findings showed that non-evangelical born-again Christians are the most likely to say it is "absolutely necessary" to invest in environmental protection compared to 61 percent of notional Christians and atheists/agnostics, 55 percent of people of other non-Christian faiths, and only 35 percent of evangelical Christians. At the same time, well over half of all groups surveyed were likely to have recycled a product in the last month with people of a faith other than Christianity (90 percent) being the most likely to have recycled.
"Most Americans say they recycle, prioritize the environment and perceive global warming to have implications for the nation. It seems as if people are searching for over-arching and compelling themes for environmental care. As Americans become aware of environmental problems and the affects on people inside and outside the U.S., it is important for Christians to embrace and articulate the biblical priority of caring for the world God created," said Kinnaman.
"Part of that priority should be to become the best possible stewards of God’s resources by being the best recyclers. Such conservation is stewardship because it means learning to be more responsible with what we have and what we consume, leaving more time and money for God’s purposes. Furthermore, the environment is a potential area of common ground between Christians and non-Christians. Like it or not, if outsiders do not see Christians embodying biblical care related to creation, a Christian’s influence is significantly diminished."
Results from the Barna poll are based on nationwide surveys conducted on 1,007 adults in January 2007 and 1,004 adults in July-August 2007.
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NASA SCIENTIST WHO WARNED OF ICE AGE IN 1971 WARNS OF GLOBAL WARMING
TODAY www.wayoflife.org
The following is excerpted from
"Inside the Beltway," The Washington Times, September 19, 2007: "NASA
scientist James E. Hansen, who has publicly criticized the Bush
administration for dragging its feet on climate change and labeled
skeptics of man-made global warming as distracting 'court jesters,'
appears in a 1971 Washington Post article that warns of an impending
ice age within 50 years. 'U.S. Scientist Sees New Ice Age Coming,'
blares the headline of the July 9, 1971, article, which cautions
readers that the world 'could be as little as 50 or 60 years away
from a disastrous new ice age, a leading atmospheric scientist
predicts.' The scientist was S.I. Rasool, a colleague of Mr. Hansen's
at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The article
goes on to say that Mr. Rasool came to his chilling conclusions by
resorting in part to a new computer program developed by Mr. Hansen
that studied clouds above Venus." COMMENT FROM David Cloud: When NASA
can tell me with complete accuracy what the weather will be at a
given place just one month from today, I will have more respect for
their "computer models" that allegedly tell us what is going to
happen one decade from today.
John Coleman
was the founder of the Weather Channel. Currently
he is the meteorologist for KUSI television in
San Diego, California. The following is an
excerpt from his blog dated Nov. 7, 2007, posted
on the ICECAP web site (International Climate and
Environmental Change Assessment Project). "It is
the greatest scam in history. I am amazed,
appalled and highly offended by it. Global
Warming; it is a SCAM. Some dastardly scientists
with environmental and political motives
manipulated long term scientific data to create
an illusion of rapid global warming. Other
scientists of the same environmental whacko type
jumped into the circle to support and broaden the
'research' to further enhance the totally
slanted, bogus global warming claims. Their
friends in government steered huge research
grants their way to keep the movement going. Soon
they claimed to be a consensus. Environmental
extremists, notable politicians among them, then
teamed up with movie, media and other liberal,
environmentalist journalists to create this wild
'scientific' scenario of the civilization
threatening environmental consequences from
Global Warming unless we adhere to their radical
agenda. Now their ridiculous manipulated science
has been accepted as fact and become a
cornerstone issue for CNN, CBS, NBC, the
Democratic Political Party, the Governor of
California, school teachers and, in many cases,
well informed but very gullible environmentally
conscientious citizens. ... I do not oppose
environmentalism. I do not oppose the political
positions of either party. However, Global
Warming, i.e. Climate Change, is not about
environmentalism or politics. It is not a
religion. ... I have read dozens of scientific
papers. I have talked with numerous scientists. I
have studied. I have thought about it. I know I
am correct. There is no run away climate change.
The impact of humans on climate is not
catastrophic. Our planet is not in peril."
Hey Citizen, you say "Do you think that maybe their religious ideas have negative consequences?"
Depends what your religion is. If you love the Lord Jesus Christ, then everything is positive. Jesus teaches us to love everyone including all religions and races but there are a lot of religions that teach an awful lot of HATRED. Your religion seems to have taught you to hate evangelicals and that has very negative consequences. You are very intolerant. Jesus teaches us to be very tolerant. I don't see how you got religion into this subject of global warming. Try being a little bit tolerant. It goes a long way.
Anyone ever think that our Sun has anything to do with this 'global warming'? What are we all going to say when God starts reigning down fire and ice from heaven? Oh, we did that! It is our fault! Let's CHANGE the earth!
Look, if we try to curb global warming, we could very well start a chain of events that could lead to something far worse then any type of nuclear winter.
Yes, the earth is Good... however, God is still in control. To blame GW on humanity is nothing more than another attempt at a humanistic, socialistic world government that will eventually tell you how long to take a bath, on what days you can go to work, and eventually, how often you can eat.
I agree that we can't pretend that Global Warming doesn't exist. The bible teaches us to take care of the precious things that are given to us. If we are given 1 mina we should work to produce 10. The one who does nothing with it has it taken away. God is trying to tell us how important it is to take care of his gifts and to bear fruit. They just recently announced an ice-free passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific for the first time because so much ice is melting. And by 2035 all the ice in the arctic will be gone. Now I believe that the Lord will come again one day, but what if it isn't in 300 years. Can you find anywhere in the bible where it says that we will be taken from this earth on this date. Who is to say that our children won't suffer through some hard times because of our actions? There were cults that claimed the rapture would come in the early 90’s but no one got taken away. All the people that prepared sold their houses, packed their bags and quit their jobs. Do you think that was a wise decision? Don’t you think they regretted that decision? No man can tell you when the date is because our knowledge is nothing compared to our Lord’s. The best way to prepare is to live our lives the best we can dedicated to the Lord and to fulfill the commission we were given. Also let us take care of the precious gifts that we were given to us to the very end. If we mistreat them they will be taken away. They are only given once. Just like the servant that did nothing with his master’s mina, it was taken away.
Christians are to be good stewards of all that God has blessed us to have; even with the knowledge that this earth has been reserved for fire, as once it was reserved for the flood. That is God's Word and I believe Him! That doesn't relieve me from the responsibility of taking care of where I am!
Not all evangelicals think they are not to care about their actions here! I believe that God looks at how we take care of what He's already blessed us with. God didn't sin againt us, man sinned against God. Even the CREATION (the planet/heavens) moan and cry out, they are waiting for the sons of GOD to be revealed and then the end will come! But the end is not truly the end for those who believe GOD, for those who trust God and know that HE has made a way out of sin and this fallen world. This is why HE tells us, we are in the world, but we are not of this world. Those who follow Jesus Christ, have passed from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light, thank you Jesus! This is not to say that I do not care about this planet; we're not going to save the planet, that's God's Word spoken. However, I care more about the lost people on this planet, who are choosing to reject Jesus Christ, and therefore their eternal choice is to be eternally separated from God and that is more tragic to me!
Jesus Christ will bring a new Heavens and new Earth! Praise God for His goodness to us! Anyone who calls upon the name of Jesus shall be saved! But for those who reject Jesus, the wrath of God remains on them, and that is God's Word spoken also!
My prayer Lord God, is that You will open the hearts and minds to those who do not know You, to reveal the love and forgiveness that You show to mankind every single day!
For Your Glory Lord, Thy Kingdom Come! I
Well said.That's why I like this site.You guys rock!!
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Do you think that maybe their religious ideas have negative consequences?
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Citizen, while we have disagreed on a few topics, I think you have a good point. Don't get me wrong, I am moderately skeptical about Global Warming(from man made causes), but am open to the idea of it being true.
Yet I see your point very well. Many times the idea of Global Warming is ignored by evangelicals like myself by our belief that the end time is near, and that "even if it is true, the world will end in XX amount of years." This is a grave mistake made by evangelicals, and it bothers me that any of us approach it that way. Instead we should deal with the theory in a realistic way, if its false then fine, if it's true than we need to do what we can to prevent it.
The debate now is not so much whether there is a slight temperature increase going on, but whether it is man-made, and whether we can do anything about it.One scientist recently stated that it is a solar cycle, and that by the year 2025 an adjustment will occur(it will be slightly cooler).I'm no scientist, but it caught my attention.
Guess I'll be the first to disagree with the global warming rant. I personally don't believe a word of it. How long have we been keeping track of weather? Long enough to determine if it is really warming or is just someone trying to curb American productivity? I live in South Western Pa. and at one time had a beautiful view out my living room window especially in the fall . Now I get to see about a dozen wind turbines. Why is it ok for people around here but Mr. Kennedy doesn't want them any where close to him. When the left in this country start to do more than give lip service to global warming maybe I think about it a little more, besides didn't the Lord say something about the earth wearing out like a garment? How about the new heaven and a new earth?
God gave us HIS beautiful garden to live in....and take care of.There are no 'passengers' on planet earth, we are all crew. When are evangelicals going to get a handle on that?
Citizen,
Q: Do you think that maybe their religious ideas have negative consequences?
A: Yes, I do. In as much as the religious right dominates political policy in this country, and continues to lend its blind support to moneyed corporate interests, little will be done about things like global warming, and we will continue to live in a pseudoscientific la-la land.
With all the propaganda about "the rapture," its no shock that some evangelicals wouldn't give as much thought to the earth as others: they don't think they'll be around to experience the consequences of global warming. Moreover, the warnings about global warming come from science, and many envangelicals are already wary of science because a lot of them reject the theory of evolution.
Do you think that maybe their religious ideas have negative consequences?
“And God said, ‘Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky.’ So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind. ...
And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.’ And it was so. God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good.”
Genesis 1:20-25
Unfortunately, American evangelicals didn’t think it was so good. :^(