Sharing from Sojourners

I have an email subscription with Sojourners magazine, which describes itself as being about "spirituality, politics, and culture". I have great admiration for Reverend Jim Wallis, and find him to be an enlightening voice in the midst of the so-called "religious wars" down South. This week's issue was particularly interesting to me, and I just wanted to share what was covered.

Dr.James Dobson, and a few other leaders on the "Religious Right" (I don't like these labels...but for comprehension's sake, I shall employ them), has recently written to the National Association of Evangelicals, claiming that global climate change is distracting the Church from the "great moral issues of our time".

This is what he wrote:
"More importantly, we have observed that Cizik and others are using the global warming controversy to shift the emphasis away from the great moral issues of our time, notably the sanctity of human life, the integrity of marriage and the teaching of sexual abstinence and morality to our children."

Let me share with you an excerpt of Jim Wallis' response: (please read it even though it's long! It's worthwhile!)

"Is the fact that 30,000 children will die globally today, and everyday, from needless hunger and disease a great moral issue for evangelical Christians? How about the reality of 3 billion of God’s children living on less than $2 per day? And isn’t the still-widespread and needless poverty in our own country, the richest nation in the world, a moral scandal? What about pandemics like HIV/AIDS that wipe out whole generations and countries, or the sex trafficking of massive numbers of women and children? Should genocide in Darfur be a moral issue for Christians? And what about disastrous wars like Iraq? And then there is, of course, the issue that got Dobson and his allies so agitated. If the scientific consensus is right - climate change is real, is caused substantially by human activity, and could result in hundreds of thousands of deaths - then isn’t that also a great moral issue? Could global warming actually be alarming evidence of human tinkering with God’s creation?Or, are the only really "great moral issues" those concerning abortion, gay marriage, and the teaching of sexual abstinence? I happen to believe that the sanctity of life, the health of marriages, and teaching sexual morality to our children are, indeed, among the great moral issues of our time. But I believe they are not the only great moral issues..."

Amen!