wfn.org | At Rally, Religious Leaders Set Bush Energy Plan Against Biblical

[Carol Fouke <carolf@ncccusa.org>]

Standards

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
Contact: NCC News, 212-870-2227
NCC5/22/01 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Religious Leaders Set Bush Energy Plan Against Standards of Biblical 
Stewardship;
Oppose Reliance on Fossil Fuels, Nuclear Power; Link Energy Policy To 
Global Warming
Religious Activists From 39 States Plan Grassroot Response to Bush 
Proposals

WASHINGTON, D.C., May 22, 2001 - Highlighting three days of meetings here, 
more than 200 religious activists held an interfaith "Let There Be Light" 
rally on Capitol Hill to raise fundamental questions about the Bush 
administration's energy plan.

Rally participants included some 200 of the 350 leaders of religious 
environmental justice ministries from 39 states meeting May 20-23 in 
Washington under the auspices of the National Council of Churches.  Many of 
those who missed the rally had early appointments with their Senators and  
 Representatives; rally participants followed later.

On Wednesday, conference participants will "return home to organize around 
a very different vision for our energy future in the pulpits and pews of 
the American heartland," according to Rev. Richard Killmer, NCC director of 
environmental justice.

Since 1998, the NCC has been organizing Statewide Interfaith Climate Change 
Campaigns in 18 states, from West Virginia to Washington, Colorado to both 
Carolinas. Involving a diverse group of Christian and Jewish communions and 
denominations, the campaigns work to address climate change and the energy 
policies and practices that cause it.

At the Capitol Hill rally, activists formed a "human bar graph" on the 
Capitol lawn to emphasize the connection between energy policy and climate 
change and to dramatize the disproportionate level of greenhouse gas 
emissions between the U.S. and other nations.

Making the connection between energy policy and climate change was a 
significant focus of the environmental justice leaders' meeting and rally. 
 Religious leaders at the rally called for "binding international 
agreements" on global warming.

"When this administration announces that it will not keep faith with the 
Kyoto Protocol process dealing with climate change, it's time for religious 
leaders to raise our voices of protest," said United Methodist Bishop 
Melvin G. Talbert, of Nashville, Tenn.

"When this administration proposes tax cuts as the primary means for 
addressing the current energy crisis without confronting the outrageous 
actions of oil companies, it's time for religious leaders to raise our 
voices of outrage and protest," he said.  "Yes, we know there are no quick 
fix solutions to our energy crisis.  But we also know that many of the 
current proposals are not solutions that will result in our being good 
stewards of God's creation or doing justice for future generations."

"Conservation should be a centerpiece not an afterthought, a solemn vow not 
a concession," added the Rev. Dr. Robert Edgar, General Secretary of the 
NCC.  "U.S. energy use is causing global warming. And the president's plan 
is only going to make the planet hotter."

Rabbi David Saperstein, speaking for the Union of American Hebrew 
Congregations, said, "The President's plan offers some new programs and 
investment in conservation, new technologies, and energy assistance to 
low-income Americans."

"However, it would expand our reliance on oil, coal, and nuclear energy 
which destroys land, pollutes air, and harms public health. It would fail 
to develop the clean, safe, efficient and sustainable energy system that is 
now within our grasp. I do not believe that the president's plan yet 
reflects biblical standards of justice and sustainability."

"It is time for the rich and privileged of the world, especially the United 
States, to exercise leadership," said the Rev. Dr. Angelique Walker-Smith, 
leader of the Indiana Interfaith Global Warming Campaign. "We can and must 
create a brighter and cleaner energy future, and we must create more equity 
in access to energy services and improved technologies now. We must ensure 
fair pricing and not greed from the owners and brokers of electricity and 
oil. This is what justice demands."

Other rally speakers included Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT), who said, 
"Energy and the environment are not just politics" but matters of faith. 
 "If we believe in God the Creator, we have a special responsibility toward 
the natural environment and toward each other as well."

Quoting from Genesis, he noted that God put Adam and Eve to work and to 
guard the Garden of Eden.  The Psalms, he noted, remind us that "the Earth 
is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof."

Lieberman said conservation needs to be at the center of energy policy. 
 "It's time to think smart about energy," he said.  "We need to invest in 
the kind of technology that made the moon shot possible, to develop energy 
sources that "don't pollute.
In contrast, the Bush administration's energy plan, he said, is "relaxing 
responsibility so more and more junk goes in the air."

Earlier this week, 39 heads of communions (denominations) and senior 
leaders of major American faith groups issued an "Open Letter" calling on 
the President, Congress and the American people "to redirect our national 
energy policy toward conservation, efficiency, justice and maximum use of 
the perennial abundance of clean and renewable energy that our Creator 
brought into being by proclaiming, 'Let there be light' (Gen. 1:3)."

"We are called to 'till and to tend the garden' (Gen 2:15)," the leaders 
wrote.  "We have a moral obligation to choose the safest, cleanest and most 
sustainable sources of energy to protect and preserve God's creation. 
Energy conservation is faithful stewardship."

The letter was signed by senior religious leaders and heads of 
communions/denominations who serve over 60 million Americans.

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