Christianity and the environment?

I have been grappling with this issue for some time. I grew up in a conservative (though moderate in many ways) Baptist home. My parents read Hal Lindsey and Tim Lahaye. I grew up learning pretty negative things about environmentalists (hippies) and liberals (also hippies). I remember very well the debate over the snail darter, a small fish that held up a dam project. In my family, we found that ridiculous. Some little fish that we didn't even know existed could not stand in the way of human progress.

So, it is with that background that I read Bill Moyer's essay on the religious right and the environment. It is a disturbing vision of the future, but worth the read.

This issue of the environment used to be more on the front burner. 9-11 pushed it back. I am afraid that it will take some catastrophic disaster to move it back. After all, with what we know about global warming and the future depletion of oil, how do Americans drive a Hummer without punching themselves in the face?

I have asked and continue to ask, however, what the Christian community is doing about the environment. As my friend Anglican reminds me, the Christian community includes a lot of different people. That is a good point. This community includes people like Sally Bingham, an environmental minister in California. She is pushing churches to be more enviro-friendly.

Unfortunately, more well-known are the Jerry Falwell's who once famously bragged about driving a Suburban and said his next vehicle would be a Hummer. Oh if he would only punch himself in the face. He better pack a lunch, because that is one pretty large face!

But back to the question. Why do the same people who believe evolution is an unproven theory and Creationism is somehow proven, also oppose attempts to save that same Creation? If God created this world, then why do so many of his followers not care about its destruction? Moyer speaks to part of it--the belief in an imminent rapture making environmental care unimportant. But I don't think all conservative Christians think that way. So, why do they drive their Hummers and live in their polluting suburban neighborhoods and vote for Republicans who make it easier for business to destroy our environment? Anyone?

To be continued.....