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Science + Religion = New Alliance to Save the Planet
‘Saving the Creation’ Makes Strange Bedfellows of Scientists and Religious Leaders
WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 2007 — – A coalition of scientists and religious leaders often at fundamental odds over the issue of the planet’s age and how it came to are now pledging to set aside their disagreements over the origin of life in pursuit of a common goal: protecting the world from global warming, pollution, extinctions, and other “reckless human activity.”
“We believe that the protection of life on Earth is a profound moral imperative,” according to the “call to action” being issued in Washington today by about a dozen scientists and evangelical Christian leaders in a coalition called Saving the Creation.
Saying there is “no excuse for further delays,” the statement calls on scientific, religious, business and political leaders to “work toward the fundamental change in values, lifestyles, and public policies required to address these worsening problems before it is too late.”
Organizers believe the joint statement is a first of its kind.
“The two most powerful social institutions — science and religion –normally seen as being at odds are now forming an alliance on this,” said Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson.
A Lot in Common
Considered the “father of biodiversity studies,” Wilson is a scientist and author of “The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth.”
His book was designed to reach out to Christians who reject evolutionary science based on the theories of Charles Darwin in favor of more literal interpretations of the Bible.
Wilson asked readers to put differences about the origin of life aside in order to form an alliance to solve the world’s problems.
The book was a critical first step that led to a November meeting convened by the Harvard Center for Health and the Global Environment, and the National Association of Evangelicals, which represents 45,000 churches around the United States.
The two sides found they had a lot in common.
“We agree that our home, the Earth, which comes to us as that inexpressibly beautiful and mysterious gift that sustains our very lives, is seriously imperiled by human behavior,” said a copy of the statement provided to ABC News.
In the statement, both sides also agreed that they were motivated by concern for the “poorest of the poor, well over a billion people, who have little chance to improve their lives in devastated and often war-ravaged environments.”
Cooperation Is Vital
Setting aside differences is imperative to action, say organizers.
“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 Richard Cizik, vice president of governmental affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals in an interview with The Associated Press.
“Some wonderful new friendships are forming,” Wilson said.
Wilson is joined on the initiative by James Hansen, who heads the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and is considered one of the world’s top climate scientists. Organizers hope the new alliance will be felt “in the pulpit” on the issue of global warming and will spur others to join the fight to save the planet.
In February 2006, 86 evangelical leaders signed a statement emphasizing the reality of climate change and called for Christians to take action to protect God’s creation. The National Association of Evangelicals did not sign the statement, however, because there was still disagreement within its membership about global warming.
Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention told ABC News last year that “a significant portion of my constituency does not think global warming is a settled issue.”
Despite Cizik’s involvement in this new initiative, an evangelical association spokesperson told ABC News that it was not yet clear whether the organization would officially adopt it.
According to the statement, saving the creation will require nothing short of a new moral awakening “clearly articulated in Scripture and supported by science, that we must steward the natural world in order to preserve for ourselves and future generations a beautiful, rich, and healthful environment.”
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