Lindsay Randall has written a short but quite effectual review of the forces behind the "Evangelical Climate Initiative," that misdirected, naive and scientifically unsound complaint about global warming that was signed by several religious leaders early this year. Randall's piece brings to the forefront the pro-abortion money that would like to remain hidden. Here is a part of her fine expose'.
...In February, 85 prominent evangelicals signed the "Evangelical Climate Initiative" (ECI), which is the "Christian" response to the supposed global warming problem. The document claims that "climate change is happening and is being caused mainly by human activities, especially the burning of fossil fuels." The ECI predicts that "millions of people could die in this century because of climate change." Today, with a total of 97 signatures, this initiative includes mega-church pastor and author Rick Warren, former President of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) Leith Anderson, and Christianity Today editor David Neff.
Interestingly, one of the biggest donors to the ECI is the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, known for its unabashed and overt support for abortion. The willingness of the Hewlett Foundation to contribute $475,000 to an evangelical initiative begs the question, "Why?" Would the Hewlett Foundation fund an evangelical initiative without trying to further its own agenda in the process?
A recent report, jointly released by the respected Institute on Religion & Democracy (IRD) and the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion & Liberty (AI), posits that the real motivation behind the Hewlett Foundation's contribution is to promote population control and abortion-on-demand.
The Hewlett Foundation states on its Web site, "As populations have grown in size and affluence, so too has the negative impact on the environment caused by their greater fossil-fuel use. The real energy crisis is not that the world will run out of fossil fuels, but that the capacity of the environment to absorb pollution will be - and in some case, has already been - exhausted."
The IRD/AI paper argues that the initiative's failure to address population control indicates that "...the ECI signers seem naively unaware that such dystopic interpretations of human activity are often tied to and derived from campaigns to reduce the human population. This connection is not a coincidence. Population control is official doctrine for many environmental groups just as it is in certain circles of the U.N." It goes on to say that "...these Evangelical leaders who in good faith associated themselves with the ECI are being exploited by organizations that not only deny their biblically-based value system, but hold such beliefs in contempt..."
Lindsay Randall's isn't the only excellent expose' of the "E.C. I." found on the Concerned Women for America website; there's also this article by Pamela Wong.
And, of course, the most important response to the "E.C.I." was compiled by the Interfaith Stewardship Alliance, a coalition of religious leaders, scientists, academics, and others who desire to speak and serve as biblical stewards of God's creation. This group rates scientific facts and responsible moral actions ahead of leftist mantras about global warming and therefore, their voice deserves a much wider hearing than it has received. I've blogged about this in the past but I'd like to provide to you again links to the Interfaith Stewardship Alliance and to the PDF file containing their Climate Change: An Evangelical Call to Action.
