Boston – Some leading scientists and evangelical Christian leaders have agreed to put aside their differences over the origin of life and work together to fight global warming.
Representatives met recently in Georgia and agreed on the need for urgent action. Details on the talks will be disclosed Wednesday in Washington.
“Whether God created the Earth in a millisecond or whether it evolved over billions of years, the issue we agree on is that it needs to be cared for today,” said Rich Cizik, vice president of government relations for the National Association of Evangelicals, which represents 45,000 churches.
Eric Chivian, director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, agreed, saying: “Scientists and evangelicals have discovered that we share a deeply felt common concern and sense of urgency about threats to life on Earth and that we must speak with one voice to protect it.”
Chivian and Cizik, both of whom participated in the talks, declined to comment further.
In February 2006, 86 evangelical leaders signed a statement to fight global warming, saying that human-induced climate change is real, that its consequences will hit the poor the hardest and that Christian moral convictions demand an urgent response.
They argued that governments, businesses, churches and individuals all have a role to play.
Signatories included presidents of evangelical colleges, aid groups, churches and pastors of megachurches.
The powerful National Association of Evangelicals, however, did not join the initiative.
