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The Rev. Jim Ball of the Evangelical Environmental Network speaks about global warming and poverty yesterday here. |
For 27 years as a Sierra Club lobbyist, Melanie Griffin got used to being called a tree hugger.
But when she converted to Christianity 15 years ago, the suburban Maryland woman found herself in unchartered territory, suddenly a hybrid.
Her Sierra Club friends worried she'd become "a right-wing nut." Her church friends thought an environmentalist couldn't really appreciate the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
But for Griffin, caring about God and the earth went hand in hand.
A growing number of Christians agree. Yesterday, about 70 gathered to talk about faith and the environment at the Riverside Center in Stafford County.
"This is really a first in Virginia," said Glenda Booth, state outreach coordinator for Audubon Society. "As far as these groups getting together, it might be a first in the nation."
Audubon, the Pew Environment Group, the National Association of Evangelicals and the Evangelical Environmental Network coordinated to create the workshop. The event featured the Rev. Jim Ball, who made headlines with his "What Would Jesus Drive?" campaign, and 1st District Rep. Rob Wittman of Westmoreland County.
A number of area pastors and church representatives showed up for the event.
The faith community was not an immediate ally in fighting global warming, Booth said. But they are a natural one.
"We realized we had this common interest, common goals, and it was a really good alliance," she said.
Many evangelicals have been slow to embrace global warming as a priority. When Stafford County resident and then-vice president of NAE, the Rev. Rich Cizik started preaching creation care, many evangelical leaders hesitated to expand their mission beyond issues such as abortion and gay marriage.
Last month, when Southern Baptist leaders agreed the environment is a concern, they wouldn't go so far as to declare global warming a man-made, real concern.
But Ball, president of the Evangelical Environmental Network, yesterday said that global warming is not only an issue but "a threat multiplier" affecting "the least of these."
Ball easily switched between religious jargon and ecospeak such as "homeostasis," "glacial melt" and "rain-fed agriculture."
An early prophet of the evangelical environmentalist movement, he pushed for the Evangelical Climate Initiative in 2006.
Voices like Ball's, which can weave Scripture with science are important, said Alexei Laushkin, director of major projects and church relations for EEN, based in Arlington.
Scientists and Democratic politicians have long carried the environmental message, Laushkin said.
"They are groups that are not natural to the evangelical community," he said.
But Ball and other religious leaders converting to the green gospel provide different messengers, one faithful folk are more likely to listen to, Laushkin said.
Wittman, a first-term Republican congressman and former state legislator, has worked toward cleanup of the Chesapeake Bay.
"We have a moral obligation given to us by our savior. We have to put forth the efforts to restore the gifts God has given us," he said at the gathering.
In the past decade, people in the pews have started picking up the environmental message, said the Rev. Pat Watkins, a United Methodist missionary "to God's creation."
Watkins, based in Richmond, travels throughout Virginia, bringing the green message to Methodist congregations. He plans to preach at the Fredericksburg United Methodist Church soon and to hold a workshop for members on energy efficiency.
He said yesterday's workshop was particularly important because it focused on religion.
"Oftentimes, we come to these conferences and we give the faith lip service, then go on to the secular part, just like the scientists," Watkins said. "In order to be in mission to the poor, we have to be in mission to God's creation."
Ball agreed, focusing his talk on how global warming impacts poverty. Helping the environment, he said, meets the key tenets of Christianity: loving God and neighbor, caring for the least of these, being stewards of creation and being peacemakers.
"There is this myth that we have to choose between helping the environment and helping people," Ball said. "We've got to get rid of that myth, because we can absolutely take care of both."
creationcare.org; audubon.org; energystar.gov/congregationsAmy Flowers Umble: 540/735-1973
Email: aumble@freelancestar.com
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Local congregations are starting to embrace the green gospel.
The Baptists and Presbyterians recycle church bulletins; the Methodists will hold an environmental workshop; the Unitarian Universalists are building an energy-efficient house of worship. "It's not been on the top of the agenda," said Steve Aycock, president of the Fredericksburg Area Baptist Network. "But there's a growing awareness that it is a problem." |
| Getting the environmental message out in the faith community requires a lot of bridge building, said many of the speakers at yesterday's workshop. Scientists and religious people have a chasm to cross.
But so do evangelicals and mainline Protestants, Muslims, Jews and Bahais. And, increasingly, they are. "I have not found a faith tradition yet that does not preach about stewardship for creation," said Jerry Lawson, "As a faith community, if we can't agree on this, I don't know what we can agree on," said the Rev. Wanda Sauley Fennell with Grace Baptist Church in Richmond. |
| At yesterday's workshop, speakers emphasized that it didn't take giant leaps to start saving the planet. The Rev. Jim Ball told the audience that the most basic step would be replacing light bulbs with incandescent bulbs.
Other steps included: Praying for the planet Talking to church members and neighbors about environmentalism Contacting legislators Buying fuel-efficient cars Carpooling or using public transportation Having an energy audit of your home Encouraging your church |
