February, it turns out, was a notable month for answering the age-old question: What would Jesus drive? Apparently, the answer may be that Jesus would more likely be found pedaling along on one of those red, painted bicycles than trucking along in a gas-guzzling Hummer.
The story started a long, long time ago—hundreds of years ago, in fact—when religious and political men decided that the earth was the dominion of humankind, and its resources should be exploited to the benefit of human civilizations and Christendom.
From some narrow points of view, this philosophy served those aims, and many nations—most notably the United States —were built and strengthened at the expense of the natural world.
We're the world's superpower because we exploited the seemingly endless resources of the nation and eventually those of the whole world.
Fast forward to Feb. 8, when 86 influential leaders of the U.S. Evangelical Christian community came out to support national legislation requiring sufficient economy-wide reductions in carbon dioxide emissions...\
This is, of course, welcome news for environmentalists, who for a long time have been looking across a vast cultural and political divide at mainstream religious organizations.
For a long time, organized religions kept their silence in the face of global environmental destruction and potential catastrophic climate change.
Now, the evangelicals spell out in four claims the case for sound environmental policy: Human-induced climate change is real; the consequences of climate change will be significant and will hit the poor the hardest; Christian moral convictions demand a response to the climate change problem; and the need to act is urgent, and governments, businesses, churches and individuals all have a role to play in addressing climate change.
Their basis for action is that we should care for God's creation, love our neighbors and exercise stewardship over the planet—all concepts that even the secular among us embrace without too much difficulty.
I believe that combating climate change and protecting the earth are spiritual and moral imperatives that fall to all humans, not just those of one religious following or another. Regardless of the doctrine that one subscribes to, there are some ethical and moral responsibilities that fall upon us just because we are human beings.
Really at stake here, though, is not so much a moral question as a political one: Will this move to heightening awareness for environmental values lead to a transformation of the political right?
Since environmental issues have traditionally been the province of liberals and the left, we are hard-pressed to imagine the Christian base that twice brought one of the greatest environmental offenders into the Oval Office suddenly change strategies and vote green.
Already, politicians are moving to have polarizing ""hot-button"" morality issues such as gay marriage and abortion on the ballots in November. These are the issues that have brought the hard liners to the polls in the past, not setting national limits on carbon dioxide emissions or supporting renewable energy.
The 86 evangelical leaders that came forward with this statement are doing their jobs by telling us the real, important moral and ethical challenge that we face is not what our neighbors are doing in their bedrooms, but what we all are doing to the planet, and the poor that will pay for our excesses.
We should all pay attention to this message whether we're Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, atheists, agnostics or something else.
The truth is that we share this planet, like it or not, and it is time to love our neighbors and our home a lot more. Oh, and give Jesus a break if you see him pedaling along in the bike lane.
Scott Bernstein is a graduate student in the Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. Please send responses to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
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