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Evangelical Leader Lauds Climate Security Act
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 21, 2008–Rev. Jim Ball, president of the Evangelical Environmental
Network and spokesman for the Evangelical Climate Initiative, joined representatives of other
religious groups today in calling for improvement and passage of the Climate Security Act,
S-2191.
The religious leaders conducted a news conference with the co-sponsors of the bill, Sen. John
Warner and Sen. Joe Lieberman, as well as Sen. Barbara Boxer, chair of the Senate Energy
and Commerce Committee.
Ball said: “Although the federal government must guide the policy toward a future with climate
protection, the decisions that need to be made are not primarily political, they are spiritual and
moral. Solving the climate change problem is first and foremost about protecting God’s creation
and loving our neighbors. That is why those of us in the evangelical community are joining our
partners in the U.S. Conference of Roman Catholic Bishops, the National Council of Churches,
and the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life to raise our voices in favor of keeping
efforts to create strong and comprehensive climate legislation moving forward. This is in line
with the will of the evangelical community, 84 percent of which favor federal legislation to reduce
global warming emissions.”
“This bill is the most important piece of climate change legislation in our nation’s history,” Ball
said, “and we commend the vital leadership of Senators Warner, Lieberman, and Boxer. We
will continue to work with them to be sure there are necessary protections for the poor both here
and abroad. It is imperative that our country continue to move forward at the federal level with
the enormous task of assuring a safe and healthy energy future. Time is of the essence in
protecting God’s creation from climate change, and we urge all Senators to support the
leadership of Senators Warner and Lieberman.”
Media Note: To interview Rev. Jim Ball, contact Debbie Payton at (404) 245-800,
dpayton@RooftopMediaWorks.com.
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Evangelicals Commend McCain Speech on Climate Change
Statement by Rev. Jim Ball
Spokesman, Evangelical Climate Initiative
Washington, D.C., May 12, 2008–We are greatly encouraged by the principles and
proposals included in Senator McCain’s speech today, and because we consider the
decisions we make about energy to be at their root moral choices, as Christians we
commend the speech’s moral high road.
The Evangelical Climate Initiative is non-partisan, and more importantly we realize that a
successful national climate change policy will transcend politics. Therefore, we welcome
Sen. McCain’s call to “draw on the best ideas of both parties, and on all the resources a free
market can provide.”
We agree that a cap-and-trade policy will spur innovation and will create new markets. We
share the Senator’s optimism in American know-how and in the resiliency of the free market.
And we commend his call for strong reductions in emissions of at least 60 percent below
1990 levels by the year 2050. Indeed, we have called for even stronger reductions– 80
percent by 2050
Sen. McCain’s support of strong policy on emissions is in line with the evangelical
community. In a recent Ellison Research poll, 84 percent of evangelicals said they favored
federal legislation to reduce the emissions that contribute to global warming.
Part of American greatness will be its courage to lead in establishing strong climate
protection and then, as Sen. McCain said, developing a cost equalization mechanism to
apply to countries such as China that may seek economic advantage by declining to enact
equally strong measures.
We also laud the concern for the most vulnerable people, for in the development of policy we
must reflect the Creator God’s heart for the poor, protecting the most defenseless of our
citizens and those who suffer the worst when the conditions are the harshest–as we’ve seen
this week in Burma.
We are pleased by Senator McCain’s reflection of many of the Principles for Federal
Policy on Climate Change that we published earlier this year. The Principles can be found
at http://pub.christiansandclimate.org/pub/PrinciplesforFederalPolicyonClimateChange.pdf
Media Note: To interview Rev. Ball, contact Debbie Payton at cellular (404) 245-8500;
email dpayton@RooftopMediaWorks.com.
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Previous releases
- Press Release: ECI Print Ad from Oct 11 (”Global Warming is a Moral Problem”) PDF
- Press Release: ECI October Capitol Focus/Evangelical Poll Results DOC | PDF
- Public Opinion Update: Ellison Poll Released October 11, 2007 PDF
- ECI print ad from June 19 (”Creating a Climate of Energy Independence”) PDF
- ECI print ad from June 12 (”Climate Protection is Family Friendly”) PDF
- ECI print ad from May 15 (”Our First Position on Global Warming”) PDF
- Press Release on President Bush’s U-Turn on Climate Policy DOC
- ECI Senate Testimony, Environment and Public Works Committee, June 7, 2007 PDF
- Principles for Federal Policy on Climate Change PDF
- Press Release on Global Warming Principles PDF
- Prayer Guide for Global Warming PDF
- Climate Change: An Evangelical Call to Action
- Signatories to Statement