The changing political climate
The faith community’s efforts to stop climate change and protect those affected by it have been gaining steam in recent years, as evangelical groups have followed in the footsteps of Mainline Protestant and Jewish groups’ long history of action on the issue. Now even the Christian Coalition is getting into the mix, joining with the National Wildlife Federation to place recent ads urging the Senate to pass climate change legislation.
I think we’ve reached a point where groups that don’t take climate change seriously are becoming marginal themselves, rather than being able to marginalize those leaders who are courageously tacking the issue. Recall that Joel Hunter was elected president of the Christian Coalition in 2006 but didn’t take office, in part, because they disagreed with his desire to address climate change. Three years later, the group has come around. My how times change.
The faith community’s environmental efforts— to the fight to stop climate change and help those affected by its impacts– has been gaining steam for years now, growing beyond its roots in the progressive religious world. Mainline Protestants have been actively lobbying for environmental protections for years and it seems the faith-based energy is contagious.