Reverend Jim Ball wrote an article on Huffington Post lauding the “over 50,000 pro-life Christians [who] are supporting the EPA’s efforts to overcome global warming.” The organization Ball works for, the Evangelical Environmental Network, ran TV spots in “key states – Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Missouri and in D.C.” featuring doe-eyed children and frightening scenes of “extreme weather.” Constituents are urged to call their senators and voice their support for God’s instrument of justice on Earth: the Environmental Protection Agency.
While stewardship of the Earth is a biblical imperative – some of God’s first words to Adam and Eve outlined their place in the order of Creation – theologically, these ads are just plain lazy. “Jesus taught us to care for the least of these,” the voiceover says, “and today, this means working to overcome climate change.” Rev. Ball also writes in the article that “Christians are seeing that climate action is part of Christ’s lordship in our lives, even in the midst of hardship and opposition.” Is it, though? Political activism of this sort recalls more secular furrowed-browism than the historic Christianity. It comes complete with its own conceptions of sin (carbon emission), gospel (Clean Air Act), evangelism (“Call your Senator!”) and judgment day (when the Arctic Cap melts).
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