Re: [asa] Religious Groups Differ on Climate Change

On Fri, 24 Apr 2009, Iain Strachan wrote:

> http://scienceandreligiontoday.blogspot.com/2009/04/religious-groups-disagree-on-climate.html
>
>
> See above from the Science and Religion Today Blog.
>
> It pretty much says what we already know, but I am puzzled, and perhaps
> someone over your side can explain to me. Why is it that white evangelical
> protestants seem to have the biggest opposition to the notion that climate
> change is caused by human activity?
>
> I can't see the connection with Christian belief. I can understand why
> fundamentalists oppose evolution & see it as a threat to their faith. But
> why climate change (in particular as caused by human activity)?
>
> Just a naive question that I hope someone can explain to me.
>
> Iain
>

I don't understand it either. There seem to be several issues with no
apparent connection with Christian belief in which evangelicals flock to
one particular side. With AGW there is probably an attitude that if the
medicine tastes bad, one should deny that he needs to take it, but this
doesn't seem Christian to me. Of course, we know that many in our churches
think that any scientists not associated with the ICR or AiG must be part
of an antichristian conspiracy, and therefore their pronouncements must be
rejected. Another factor may be labels. An individual with the label of
conservative is instantly credible whether what he says is really
conservative or not, but a label of liberal will do the opposite. The fact
that Al Gore has emerged as the most prominent public spokesman for AGW
may cause immediate rejection. After all, if he is wrong on everything
else, surely he must be wrong here too. I think it is too bad that the
chief spokesman for this position was already a controversial figure, thus
encouraging ad hominem attacks in the debate on climate change.

Gordon Brown (ASA member)

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Received on Tue Apr 28 17:36:05 2009