A moral case for action

Philadelphia Inquirer: Love of God, love of neighbor and the demands of stewardship compelled 86 evangelical Christian leaders to call for U.S. laws to slow climate change Wednesday.
They joined the legion of scientists, business leaders, environmentalists and government officials, here and abroad, who support mandatory reductions in the carbon emissions believed to be warming the globe.
President Bush, who has hardened his heart on this issue, shouldn't play Pharaoh once again.
Like many others, these evangelicals worry about the consequences of rising temperatures, melting glaciers and higher seas. They fear, as their statement put it, that "hungry children will get hungrier, droughts drier, floods fiercer, hurricanes harsher, and health concerns like malaria more menacing."
The Bush administration has supported climate change research, but backs only weak, voluntary measures to cut greenhouse gases emitted from power plants, factories and vehicles.
Though it acknowledges National Academy of Sciences and international reports confirming the human contribution to global warming, the administration still publicly questions the conclusions of a large majority of climate scientists. The White House has edited doubt into Environmental Protection Agency reports and undermined negotiations at international conferences.
But this new plea from the kind of fellow believers who populate his political base will be hard for the president to ignore.
Solid science
The evangelicals' argument starts with same solid science other groups have used. Beyond scientific persuasion, the Evangelical Climate Initiative mounts an admirable moral case for action, saying:
The Earth is God's world, and any damage humans do to it is an offense against God himself.
Christians are called to love their neighbors and to care for "the least among us."
God commissioned humans as stewards of the Earth. Global warming is evidence of a failure to exercise proper stewardship.
The statement is wise to stress that global warming will hurt the world's most vulnerable citizens first and hardest -- those with the fewest resources to cope. Wealthy countries should take preventive action before entire islands are inundated, tropical diseases spread, and food production shuts down. These evangelical leaders see global warming as an extension of their work against famine, genocide and AIDS.