Evangelical Christians from Global South see expanding influence
A survey of evangelical Christian leaders found a Global North-South split on how they see their prospects.
The 2010 survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life revealed optimism among 58 percent of evangelical leaders in the Global South – sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East/North Africa, Latin America and most of Asia. But 66 percent of leader in Europe, North America, Japan, Australia and New Zealand tended to be pessimistic about evangelicals’ influence on society.
The Global Survey of Evangelical Protestant Leaders polled 2,196 leaders, finding splits on such issues as whether belief in God was required to be a moral person. There was near-universality on the Bible being the word of God.
The story on the survey, Evangelicals split on faith’s influence-survey, also revealed a more conservative bent in the South.
U.S. Religious Left campaigns for climate change legislation
The U.S. “Religious Left” — which has been active at the grassroots level to support President Barack Obama’s drive for health care reform – has now launched a campaign in support his other major domestic initiative: climate change legislation.
Faithful America, a coalition of progressive evangelical, Catholic, mainline Protestant and Jewish groups, unveiled a video on Thursday urging viewers to “TELL CONGRESS: STOP CLIMATE CHANGE AND ITS EFFECTS.” The campaign is called Day Six.
You can see the video below:
A climate bill aimed at reducing America’s emissions of greenhouse gases linked to global warming is being crafted in the U.S. Senate. The House of Representatives earlier this year passed its own version.
The Day Six campaign also asks people to sign an online petition that urges senators to : “… support a climate bill that addresses the root causes of climate change and makes needed investments in vulnerable communities already experiencing its devastating effects.”
The organizers say that: “‘Day Six’ is a reference to the creation story in Genesis, when God made human beings stewards of creation.”
This is nuts. This is science, not religion, and religion only muddles an already badly muddled debate. Occasionally religious leaders have a place in the public arena, for instance to represent otherwise disfranchised people – the Southern Christian Leadership Council, for instance – but otherwise religious people should stay in their temples and pray or jump around or do whatever they do, and not bother the intelligent minority who are trying to figure this problem out.
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Resident FaithWorld Expert
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This is getting bad.Wake up america,get back to your bible and gods word.Time is short.This is all wrong!Jesus didn’t say to do this.