Anthony Annett of Fordham University articulates the differences between neoliberalism and Catholic social teaching. Here are some of those differences: Neoliberalism defines human motivation in terms of self-interest. Catholic social teaching defines human motivation in terms of “solidarity, reciprocity, and...
environment
Evangelicals seem to be coming around on climate change
In 2007, Richard Cizik, then vice-president of the National Association of Evangelicals, came under attack from some prominent evangelicals for his opposition to global warming. Jerry Falwell Sr. described evangelicals concerned with climate change as “earthism worshippers.” James Dobson called...
God $ Green
If you want to know how American evangelicals have come to reject climate change watch “God $ Green: An Unholy Alliance,” a video from the University of Virginia’s Religion, Race & Democracy Lab. It includes commentary from American historian Darren...
My case for Joe Biden
Many have asked me to weigh-in on the election. Let me begin by saying that my choice of a candidate was not difficult. Donald Trump is immoral. He is a pathological liar. He is a narcissist. He is a racist...
How did the court evangelicals respond to last night’s debate?
They loved it, of course. Let’s begin, one more time, with American religious historian Grant Wacker from his biography of Billy Graham: The crucial point is that Graham continued to defend Nixon long after most Americans smelled a rat. When...
Michelle Obama’s DNC convention speech was deeply Christian
After the first night of the Democratic National Convention I tuned into Fox News. Laura Ingraham was on the air and, as might be expected, she was trashing the convention. I stopped watching after about forty minutes of analysis from...
Does “End-Time Apathy” Explain Why So Many Evangelicals Don’t Care About the Environment?
If Jesus is coming back at any moment to “rapture” his church, why should evangelicals care about the environment? As religious studies scholar Robin Globus Veldman writes, this theory has been “widely accepted” by environmentalists to explain evangelical apathy about...
NPR Tackles Environmentalism and Evangelicalism
The story focuses on Young Evangelicals for Climate Action and the attack on Richard Cizik‘s promotion of creation care....
Why Christians Should Be Concerned About Climate Change
Last night I went to a George Will lecture on campus and listened to him question whether climate change was man-made. (This was not the focus of his lecture, but the subject came-up during the Q&A period). When it comes...
Overcoming Fear with Hope: On Climate Change
Jonathan Franzen’s recent New Yorker essay on climate change is sobering. But is also hopeful. Franzen argues that we are investing too much time and money into trying to reverse the consequences of climate change when it is probably too late...
Katherine Hayhoe: Climate Scientist and Evangelical
The Washington Post is running a really interesting piece on Katherine Hayhoe, a climate scientist at Texas Tech University and an evangelical Christian. (Her spouse is a Christian author, pastor, and radio host). Those evangelicals who want to reach public...
Joseph Ellis: The Founding Fathers Wanted a Green New Deal
Would the founding fathers have supported a Green New Deal? I have no idea. But historian Joseph Ellis‘s thoughts at CNN are worth considering here. A taste: From the very beginning, there were critics who challenged the claim that “We...
Evangelicals Call for Renewable Energy in Indiana
21,000 evangelicals that is. Learn more from Rebecca Thiele’s piece at WFYI (Indianapolis). A taste: A group of evangelicals in Indiana wants the state to expand wind and solar energy. The Evangelical Environmental Network delivered more than 21,000 signatures to Gov. Eric...
Is Jimmy Carter an Antidote to Trump?
David Siders thinks so. Here is a taste of his recent piece at Politico: “Carter almost takes us out of the entire realm of what our politics has become,” said Paul Maslin, a top Democratic pollster who worked on the...
An Alternative to a Border Wall
Over at Big Think, Stephen Johnson writes about a plan that might help with border security, create jobs, and bring green energy to the United States. Here is a taste: “What should the U.S. do about The Wall?” is a...
FDR’s New Deal Was Also Green
Over at JSTOR Daily, Livia Gershon draws on scholarship by Neil Maher to remind us that the first New Deal was concerned with the environment. Here is a taste of her piece: The Green New Deal concept championed by Democratic...
Pennsylvania’s Pro-Life Evangelicals Call for Clean Air in the Commonwealth
Rev. Mitchell Hescox is the CEO of the Evangelical Environmental Network. He lives in New Freedom, Pennsylvania. In his recent piece at The York Daily Record, Hescox argues that pro-life evangelicals should be concerned about the bad air emanating from fracking...
The Effects of Climate Change
We had a good discussion at my dinner table tonight about the Fourth National Climate Assessment. As a young evangelical, my seventeen-year old daughter is passionate about this issue and it was fun to see her so engaged. She is...
The Fourth National Climate Assessment Report is Here and it Doesn’t Look Good for the Planet
Read it here. What is this report? A taste: The Global Change Research Act of 1990 mandates that the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) deliver a report to Congress and the President no less than every four years that “1) integrates,...
Young Evangelicals and Climate Change
Jeremiah 29:7: “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” What might the application of this verse...