what's the buzz/tell me what's a-happening
Rockin' good news? Or 'Ghost Rider' lame?
Sayeth teh Times:
Signaling a significant departure from the Southern Baptist Convention’s official stance on global warming, 44 Southern Baptist leaders have decided to back a declaration calling for more action on climate change, saying its previous position on the issue was “too timid.”
The largest denomination in the United States after the Roman Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist Convention, with more than 16 million members, is politically and theologically conservative.
Yet its current president, the Rev. Frank Page, signed the initiative, “A Southern Baptist Declaration on the Environment and Climate Change.” Two past presidents of the convention, the Rev. Jack Graham and the Rev. James Merritt, also signed.
“We believe our current denominational engagement with these issues has often been too timid, failing to produce a unified moral voice,” the church leaders wrote in their new declaration.
A 2007 resolution passed by the convention hewed to a more skeptical view of global warming.
In contrast, the new declaration, which will be released Monday, states, “Our cautious response to these issues in the face of mounting evidence may be seen by the world as uncaring, reckless and ill-informed.”
Strong stuff. Thing of it is, though - the thing of it is, is that enviros and the newsies jump all over this, but there doesn't seem to be a whole lotta follow up. Some might say that the dominant paradigm for journos is that evangelicals = God, guns, gays, that they conveniently and consistently ignore Good Works, and that there's little impetus to really flog it like it needs to be flogged. Others aren't sold, and point to the fact that the nexus of groups and interests that make up the Christian Right, like any good special interest, will going to continue to go with what is most effective.
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