Although an "evangelical environmentalism" has been emerging in recent years -- not without a struggle -- conservative Christians have by and large not embraced "creation care" with the same enthusiasm as other denominations.The Gulf oil catastrophe could change that, if this powerful self-indictment by Russell D. Moore, dean of the School of Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, is any indication.In his blog post this week, "Ecological Catastrophe and the Uneasy Evangelical Conscience," Moore, a Biloxi native who recently returned from a trip to his hometown, compares the Gulf oil spill to the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion:
After Roe, what seemed to be a Catholic issue now pierced through the consciences of evangelical Protestants who realized theyd not only been naive; theyd also missed a key aspect of Christian thought and mission.For too long, we evangelical Christians have maintained an uneasy ecological conscience. I include myself in this indictment.Weve had an inadequate view of human sin.Because we believe in free markets, weve acted as though this means we should trust corporations to protect the natural resources and habitats. But a laissez-faire view of government regulation of corporations is akin to the youth minister who lets the teenage girl and boy sleep in the same sleeping bag at church camp because he believes in young people.
He continues in a powerful vein, and I think it admirable and courageous that he takes aim at himself and his own community, but I think his words can be taken to heart by everyone.In a related vein, Mark Galli, managing editor at Christianity Today, the flagship evangelical monthly, takes the jeremiad more literally in "Judgment in the Gulf." He points the finger at everyone -- as prophets do, no? -- but also takes the lash to his growth-at-all-costs co-religionists:
Woe to you, O churches of the land, who tithe and fast, who preach and pray, who grow megachurches in the twinkling of an eye, who care about souls but not the land on which they live, which I too have made and called good. Woe to you who trust me not for their daily bread, but look anxiously to smoke billowing diesel to deliver them from their hunger. Woe to all who lift up their eyes to call upon my name, but who do not look down at that which they destroy by sucking up energy in their spacious megabuildings and at international gatherings to glorify my name.
I tend to doubt much will change -- remember the Gallup poll on Republican attitudes from the other day. But there has been a shift on green issues, especially among younger evangelicals. Thoughts?
