New tool for ‘green’ Christians: ecofriendly Bible

While some Christians have been active on these issues for decades, others – particularly Evangelicals – have long questioned the justification and aims of environmentalism. Many conservative Christians have viewed it as a “leftist” issue, sometimes bordering on pantheism. In recent years, however, some prominent evangelical leaders have been converted by the evidence of climate change, and in 2006, they signed the Evangelical Climate Initiative. Others continue to dispute the evidence.

Churches have lagged in recognizing the problem, Mr. Illyn suggests, partly because of a misperception of what it means that man has dominion over the earth and partly because of the fundamentalist theology of dispensationalism, which teaches that “the earth is going to burn up” during the end times – which some believe could come at any moment.

But signs of a shift in attitudes are multiplying, say those on the front lines.

Matthew Sleeth – a former medical doctor concerned about environmental degradation who came into Christianity through reading the Bible – is the author of “Serve God, Save the Planet.” He’s become a sought-after speaker on campuses and in churches and wrote the lead essay in the Green Bible.

“When I started doing this, my own church wouldn’t let me speak from the pulpit – the only people who would were the Unitarians,” he says. “Now many churches who call themselves quite conservative are taking it up.”

This month he’ll spend a weekend with 350 Southern Baptist ministers in Tennessee talking about creation care. (Evangelicals prefer that term to emphasize that environmental action is about a relationship to the Creator.)

Dr. Sleeth has also seen Christian colleges that had no interest in the subject begin to change their behavior, modifying curriculum and finding ways to reduce their carbon footprint.

“When I speak to an audience, I start with the tree of life in the first part of the Bible and trace trees right through to Revelation 22, which has the beautiful description of the river of waters and the tree of life that is for the healing of the nations,” Sleeth says. “It seems there’s a tree there whenever anything of significance is happening, from Abraham to Zacchaeus.”

The Rev. Joel Hunter – senior pastor at Northland, a megachurch in Longwood, Fla. – led his own congregation and then other pastors into the movement. Northland formed a creation-care task force that conducted a comprehensive environmental audit and saved money by switching to more sustainable practices. This year, it hosted a Green Expo for its community and a national Creation Care Conference for pastors.

The Sierra Club also issued this year its first national report on the environmental engagement of communities of faith, which highlighted an example in each of the 50 states.

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