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I believe that the very public struggle between evangelicals over global warming is due to sharp theological differences between the two parties. Rather than describing the two parties, I will offer description of the theological basis for those who disagree with the fact that our planet is getting warmer.
Two comments by those who signed a letter to the National Association of Evangelicals urging them not to adopt an official position on global warming reveal the core of the theological ideology relating to this issue. In an interview with NPR, Richard Land, president of The Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, concluded that the practices that reduce global warning would negatively affect the economy. E. Calvin Beisner, professor of social ethics at Knox Theological Seminary, a conservative Presbyterian school in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who helped draft the letter argued that “some international treaty for mandatory reductions in CO2emissions, could make a significant enough drop in global emissions to justify the costs to the human economy.”
Do you see the problem here? They don’t want to hurt the economy! Seems like these evangelicals are more Republican than Christian. When James Carville told Clinton “It’s the economy stupid†he showed real insight into the American psyche. Unfortunately, many evangelicals can’t understand that many of the values that Americans hold aren’t “Christian values.†It’s the poor who suffer the most from global warming. Cutting the use of oil will mostly hurt Exxon (who has posted record profits lately) and related businesses. Businesses that offer alternatives would surely grow wouldn’t they? I remember when folks argued that the use of computers would lead to massive unemployment. Man I’m old!
Other factors are also in play here. Many evangelicals today are more “Reformed†or “Calvinistic†in theology. Like it or not, the ideology of election-that some are chosen by God and others are not-results in a “logic of exclusion.†God prefers us (Christians) over everybody and everything else. Thus, we become the center of the universe in terms of setting the rules. Sound familiar? Because we are favored, we get to spread our ideas throughout the world because we know best don’t we? Let’s spread democracy unless it results in leaders we don’t like. How is it that some evangelicals want a theocracy here, but not in the Middle East? Because we’ve got the right God on our side!
The patriarchal view of God as absolute Lord really comes in handy when you are of the elect! This view of God and the universe justifies authoritarianism and centralized power. This ideology allowed many fundamentalist Baptists to run all of the “liberals†out of the Southern Baptist Convention and be nasty to them while they did it. You see, it didn’t matter what means they used to rid the convention of these heretics because they had truth on their side. (See the latest IMB controversy) Truth and power is much more important than loving your neighbor, even though I think that idea was one of Jesus’ top two.
Jesus died for my sins! I once heard someone say that if I was the only human being, Jesus would have died for me. Holy Crap! I must be really important then! Jesus must want me to expand my territory! That can’t happen without a flourishing economy! Ah, to heck with the poor, didn’t Jesus say they’d always be with us anyway?
Gotta run! My Prayer of Jabez book says I need to get praying so I’ll be blessed. God knows living in New Orleans—I need some blessings. I realize the book didn’t work for Africans, but they probably aren’t favored and chosen like me!
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I thought Mindy’s 
