When the ‘right’ has it all wrong
A call to recapture the breadth of morality
March 21, 2007
Tyler Curll
In a recent letter to the National Association of Evangelicals, Dr. James Dobson effectively pronounced what many have known for some time now: he no longer speaks for or shares the values of a growing number of Evangelical Christians. The letter, signed by Dobson and 24 other leaders of Evangelical organizations, addresses “the global warming controversy,” arguing that it detracts from a focus on “the great moral issues of our time.”
Based on their activism in recent years, it seems that the leaders of the religious right only deem something to be a moral issue if it relates to sexuality (homosexuality, abortion, etc.). But regardless of what Dobson says, the environment is a moral issue. The only insightful utterance in the letter occurs when the authors write, “We are not suggesting that our beliefs about [global warming] necessarily reflect the majority of our fellow evangelicals.” In this they are absolutely correct.
Unfortunately, Dobson is not the only Christian leader ignoring the global warming issue. In a recent sermon (Feb. 25), titled “The Myth of Global Warming,” Baptist minister Rev. Jerry Falwell denounced global warming as “Satan’s attempt to redirect the church’s primary focus” of preaching the gospel.
To be fair, he did state that every Christian ought to be an environmentalist; however, for Falwell this merely consists of “picking up trash.” He even goes so far as to twist Psalm 24:1, which reads, “The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains,” to deny global warming. But here Falwell only succeeds in refuting his own stance: it is precisely because the earth is the Lord’s that Christians, as its stewards, must take seriously any threat to its welfare.
Both Dobson and Falwell represent a form of North American Christianity with a dangerously narrowed gospel message. It is a message that no longer addresses many important moral—yes, moral—issues of our time, such as creation care, economic oppression, and even caring for the last and the least in our society. Theirs is a form of Christianity that focuses instead on issues of abortion and homosexuality, replacing biblical morality with sexual moralism.
Fortunately, a growing number of Evangelical Christians are recovering a tradition in which the redemption of the cross encompasses the entirety of human life and not just the bedroom. It is a Christianity that envisions our society’s treatment of the last and the least as fundamental to a vibrant faith. It is a Christianity that envisions care for God’s creation as fundamental to responding to our calling as followers of Jesus.
The environment has become a prominent political issue in the media; it’s about time it became recognized as a prominent religious—and moral—issue in our faith community.
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