Creation Care

This NYT article discusses the existence and influence of the evangelical environmental movement. The existence of these folks is a very good sign for a number of reasons.

Adding strength and influence to the environmental movement is a good thing. It has been weakened considerably during this administration. Much of The Republican War on Science deals with the weakening of regulations and agencies aimed at protecting the environment. Strengthening the environmental movement is a good thing.

The evangelical groups will add new perspectives and new outlooks to the environmental movement. This can only serve to improve the movement in nearly everything it does. I've written a lot here about the nature and value of critical review and that one essential component is a diverse group of independent reviewers. The evangelicals will add diversity and are certainly independent of the existing environmental movement.

This will help break down the false dichotomy between the religious and the liberal points of view. For far too many years liberals have acquiesced in this division which has put too many people with liberal sympathies into the conservative camp. The polarization of the nation that many complain about is in part due to this overly simplistic division. Including these folks in the liberal coalition, even if only on this one issue, is all for the better for liberalism and for the country.

This could help restore the acceptance of scriptural and religious references as a means of communicating ideas. Citing scripture to argue that because it is written there it must be true, is, I believe a mistake and a disservice to both religion and the country. However, many true things are described well in scripture and many people are best persuaded by reference to those passages that do describe true things well. That usage of scripture should not be discouraged, although unfortunately it has.

As an extension to the last point, this could help in a revival of liberal theology. Not much is heard in the national debate from a theological and a liberal position. I believe that that is unfortunate and that liberals and Democrats would do well to correct that error.