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New York Times
Southern Baptists
Take on Global Warming
By AP from
nytimes.com on the Web, June 13, 2007
SAN ANTONIO -- Southern
Baptists weighed a resolution on global warming Wednesday that questions the
prevailing scientific belief that humans are largely to blame for the phenomenon
and also warns that increased regulation of greenhouse gases will hurt the poor.
A vote on the resolution was planned for Wednesday night, near the end of the
denomination's annual meeting.
The global warming debate has split evangelicals, with some not only pressing
the issue but arguing humans bear most of the responsibility for the problem
because of greenhouse gas emissions. Other evangelicals say talking about
the issue at all diminishes their influence over more traditional culture war
issues such as abortion, gay marriage and judicial appointments.
The SBC resolution acknowledges a rise in global temperatures. It rejects
government-mandated limits on carbon-dioxide and other emissions as ''very
dangerous'' because they might not significantly lower temperatures and could
lead to ''major economic hardships'' worldwide.
A late amendment was offered to remove the resolution's calls for more
government-funded research into global warming's causes and alternative energies
to oil. A vote on the amendment was taken, but results will not be
announced until later Wednesday.
Barrett Duke, vice president for public policy and research with the SBC's
Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, said the resolution acknowledges humans
bear some responsibility for rising temperatures while urging caution.
''It does not deny there has been a recent warming trend in average global
temperatures,'' said Duke, who helped write the measure. ''What it does do
is call for more objective analysis in the data that would explain causes of the
warming we're experiencing.''
The resolution stands in contrast to a statement last year signed by 86
evangelical leaders that said human-induced climate change is real, and that the
consequences of warming temperatures will cause millions of people to die, most
of them ''our poorest global neighbors.''
The SBC statement frames the global warming debate as a moral issue with
profound implications for the poor -- but does so through a different lens.
''Our concern is for the vulnerable communities as well,'' Duke said.
''But we think if the data is being misinterpreted, and policies are being
implemented to reduce the human contributions, those policies are bound to drive
up the costs of goods and services for poor and underdeveloped parts of the
world. The companies have to pass the costs along to somebody.''
The Rev. Richard Cizik, vice president of governmental affairs for the National
Association of Evangelicals, said Wednesday the Southern Baptist resolution can
do some good by bringing attention to the issue. However, he added:
''I think we need to be careful not to craft a position that puts us out there
by ourselves.''
Cizik, a lightning rod in the debate over whether evangelicals should engage in
the climate change debate, supports findings announced in February by the United
Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. That panel said it is
90 percent certain human-generated greenhouse gases account for most of the
global rise in temperature over the last 50 years.
Also Wednesday, SBC messengers, or delegates, approved a resolution on
protecting children from sex abuse. The resolution urged, among other
things, all Southern Baptist churches and entities to respond quickly to
allegations and to conduct criminal background checks to root out offenders.
President Bush, a frequent speaker at SBC annual meetings, spoke to the
convention on Wednesday live via satellite. He highlighted his
administration's common ground with Southern Baptists on everything from
abortion to fighting AIDS and responding to the crisis in Darfur.
''You're rising to meet the challenges of broken souls, in a broken world, with
compassion and courage,'' Bush said.
Earlier Wednesday, Southern Baptists concerned about a rightward shift in the
denomination claimed a significant victory with the passage of a motion centered
on Baptist identity. Some conservatives, however, downplayed the vote's
importance and called the measure confusing.
''Messengers,'' or delegates, voted 58 percent to 42 percent to support a
statement calling the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 the sufficient standard for
establishing what makes a good Southern Baptist.
Backers of the statement said some conservatives have been narrowing the
definition of who is considered a Baptist in good standing by condemning various
worship practices.
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