these are some notes I took on October 21, 2005 down the hill at "Global Warming: Looking Beyond Kyoto," a conference sponsored by the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization. the YCSG is our next door neighbor, and in fact here is a picture showing the view out my window at their adams family mansion. ha!
when our faith as a way of life group went to washington d.c. a week later to discuss faith and politics, we spoke to senator lieberman. one of our group, tony jones, wrote about that visit here. below are the senator's comments, remarkable both
for their honesty and for their faithfulness.
these are my notes, and the quotes are *nearly* exact!
Key to this presentation was when during Q&A when Marian Chertow from the School of Forestry asked about whether the Senator felt it was important to mobilize support from the faith community around his efforts to pass legislation on global warming. A few parts to his answer:
1. “Now this is a faith-based initiative if there ever was one! If you believe as I do that God created the heavens and the earth, then we have a stewardship responsibility—which, if I may say so, we’re failing at.”
2. Then, he offered some commentary about how religious voices in our country are pressing hard on a couple of issues—abortion, gay marriage, etc.—but limiting the issues to those. And he referenced Jim Wallis’ book, God’s Politics, and Jim’s argument that while those couple issues getting attention are important, the Bible speaks relatively little about them and a lot about poverty and creation, issues that are not getting press. He is encouraged, however, after a recent meeting with the National Association of Evangelicals to talk about his climate legislation and they were interested and open to considering support.
3. Lastly, he said that public opinion matters, but despite nearly 70% of Americans thinking global warming is a threat and wanting the government to do something about it, the lobby (from the auto companies, especially) are so powerful in Washington that their voices are holding back Congress from pushing forward with legislation. He thought that in this case, states are leading the way—for example, California on auto emissions, and New England states on power plants—and that the change in Washington might be forced up from the states.
so, a few take-to-the-bank points.
one, we're failing at dealing well with climate change. i know that, i feel that, and yet it is so good to hear a major politician say so. when when our leaders tell us the truth rather than what is politically expedient.
two, holy God, save us from political expediency. the role of money in political life may not be sexy but what a justice question. run, i say, run, and by a copy of the book: is that a politician in your pocket? or read this:
+peace
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