Christianity & the Environment

Ultimately the Cornwall Declaration was created to give sanction to this worldview. The deeper emotional and spiritual issues raised by the Bible have much to say about the gift of Creation, our place in it, and what they mean for our lives. Evangelicals have side-stepped these issues far too long, as they have poverty, violence, disease and famine, and many other issues of justice and human suffering. Instead, we have focused on issues less relevant, but less costly issues like prayer in schools, "moral values" (a euphemism for personal piety issues that require more of others than of us (e.g. gay marriage, when the evangelical church is predominately straight), and getting science that we perceive to be inconvenient banned from schools—so we won't have to confront it on a level playing field. Strangely enough, all these issues receive little or no minimum of attention in the Bible. They do however offer us a sense of personal holiness and enlightenment without any of the costs borne by those who truly have attained to these things throughout history.

What a surprise.....

Contrary to what one might gather from a visit to the Focus on the Family web site, there are fewer than a dozen verses in the entire Bible that address homosexuality even indirectly. By contrast, over half of the text copy in the Old Testament alone addresses just two subjects: idolatry –including the worship of material wealth, and neglect of the less fortunate). One out of every 10 verses in all four Gospels addresses caring for the poor. In the Gospel of Luke (who was a historian, and arguably the most historically detailed in his reports of the teaching of Jesus), it is one out of every seven. The one social issue that evangelical Christians have truly thrown themselves into that is any way associated with human suffering or justice, is abortion. Even there, the primary focus is the imposition of legal restrictions on, and denial of health care to, people with pro-choice views. In other words, punishing people with different beliefs about abortion, not the reducing the prevalence of abortion and abortion related suffering worldwide.

Regardless of what we Christians think about the secular world and its values, they are not stupid. Most have had at least some exposure to the Bible and Biblical doctrine even if only from childhood Sunday or Parochial School - enough to know the difference between the real thing and cheap, comfortable imitations. It's no accident that the Nobel Peace Prize was given to Christians like Mother Teresa and Jimmy Carter, and not to James Dobson or any other "family values" ideologue. Christians today need to face these facts and trade in their Christianized American idolatries for the Cross that Jesus carried 2000 years ago. Until we do, the world will not follow us. Why would they? They've already been to that side of town…

And they're still bleeding.