Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

Some religious movements that are considered to be crusades include the Evangelical Climate
Change Initiative, and the „Kids on Fire‟ Christian, summer camp. The Evangelical Climate Change
Initiative is a „call to action‟ among the Evangelical Christian Community to encourage tougher federal
legislation for dealing with the climate crisis. In a New York Times article from February 8, 2006, it was
stated that “despite opposition from some of their colleagues, 86 evangelical Christian leaders have decided
to back a major initiative to fight global warming” (NY Times Online, page 1). The article illustrates how
these leaders are on an aggressive mission to urge the United States and all members of the Christian
community to take a firmer stance on this issue, appealing to the science and the moral idea that global
warming could disastrously affect us all, especially America‟s globally impoverished neighbors. On the
Evangelical Climate Change Initiative‟s organization website, you can read the „call to action‟ where it is
stated in the Preamble,
As American evangelical Christian leaders, we recognize both our opportunity and our
responsibility to offer a biblically based moral witness that can help shape public policy in the most
powerful nation on earth, and therefore contribute to the well-being of the entire world. Whether
we will enter the public square and offer our witness there is no longer an open question. We are
in that square, and we will not withdraw … We seek to be true to our calling as Christian leaders
… we have seen and heard enough to offer the following moral argument related to the matter of
human-induced climate change. (Evangelical Climate Change Intiative.org, paragraphs 1-3)
Within the document is a tone for rallying up Christians, but not for simply a religious issue, rather for a
moral issue that affects everyone. The document appeals to Christian convictions, but also to morals,
science, and reason to not only benefit the Christian community, but everyone on the globe. It emphasizes
several goods of life including biological life, integrity, and loving relationships. There is a call to action, a
call for an aggressive movement against a public evil, climate change, as well as a group of persons
considered as evil, which are those who will not listen to the science and moral dilemmas behind climate
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