Church group raps Bush on Clean Air Act ( National Council of Churches )

[G_j]

http://pennlive.com/newsflash/lateststories/index.ssf?/base/national-22/1082624113172080.xml


Church group raps Bush on Clean Air Act

By ELIZABETH M. GILLESPIE
The Associated Press
4/22/2004, 7:51 a.m. ET


SEATTLE (AP) — A national group of Christian leaders is sending a scathing letter to President Bush to coincide with Earth Day, accusing his administration of chipping away at the Clean Air Act.

The National Council of Churches argued that planned changes to power plant regulations will allow major polluters to avoid installing pollution-control equipment when they expand their facilities.

"In a spirit of shared faith and respect, we feel called to express grave moral concern about your 'Clear Skies' initiative — which we believe is The Administration's continuous effort to weaken critical environmental standards to protect God's creation," the council wrote in an advance copy of the letter provided to The Associated Press.

The New-York based group, which represents 50 million people in 140,000 Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox denominations, said it was sending its two-page letter to the president on Thursday, as people all over the country celebrate Earth Day. It took out a full-page ad in The New York Times, scheduled to run in Thursday's editions, calling on Bush to leave the Clean Air Act's new source review rules in place.
...more..

[DeepModem Mom]

1. We need so much more of this from mainstream Christian...

churches, and more attention paid when they do speak out.

[checks-n-balances]

2. I applaud them for continuing to speak out

For decades, the NCC has been attacked by RW Christians in the U.S. Their attempts to demonize the NCC (which includes most of the major mainline denominations - Methodist, Episcopal, Presbyterian, etc.) - have usually drowned out the good that these churches are doing.

Individualistic RW Christianity makes it easy to be part of a corrupt system, and also profit by it, and still be absolved of a guilty conscience. As long as you believe that sin (read: sex) happens only on a personal level, then you don't have the concept of corporate sin & greed. When groups like the NCC have drawn attention to evils & injustices and their lack of accountability/responsibility to society, they were accused of being Communist, anti-American, etc. Now the "Liberal" label is usually sufficient enough to discredit them within the general public.

Lots of RW "Christian" think-tanks emerged during the Cold War right along with the more well-known ones now. On the other hand, there are now a growing number of Evangelical Christians breaking ranks with these hardliners on the issue of the environment. They should be applauded too.

Here's a recent Sojourners Magazine dedicated entirely to environmental issues, including the article "Sins of Emission":

http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=magazine.contents&issue=soj0403

Discussion board on Corporate ownership vs. stewardship of the earth:
http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=get_connected.forums&mode=display&forum_id=52

[checks-n-balances]

3. Here's the website of this national group

http://www.ncccusa.org/

They've been down "The Road Not Taken" by the RW and have steadily been catching hell for it by the RW.

Except for this article and some others, you'd think that all Christians are RW!

Let's hope next year's EARTH DAY will be a happier one!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. Yes

"Except for this article and some others, you'd think that all Christians are RW!"

That's because in the last twenty years or so, fundamentalists have used "Christian" to refer exclusively to themselves.

Living in secular Oregon for the past eighteen years, I had to reassure people that I was the farthest thing from a fundamentalist, because the majority of the population, whether right wing or left wing. had no personal connection with religious groups, and the fundamentalists got all the publicity.

[schultzee]

5. Most Christians are not fundamentalist Baptists and Southern Methodists!

It just that these evagelical groups believe it is their mandate to convince everyone else that they have a 1-800 number to God, and the others just keep their faith in God private. visit liberalslikechrist.org.

[demosincebirth]

6. Lets specify Main Line or RW Christians.

Don't lump us all together...pleeeze