Cooling Our Future: Young evangelicals take powerful message to U.S. Congress
May 28, 2008
Representatives of more than 1,500 young evangelical Christians from forty-one states presented a statement on November 16, 2006 that called for government and religious leaders to take definitive action against global warming. Thirty students from evangelical Christian colleges and Christian fellowship groups on secular campuses visited over 20 Senate offices to share how their Biblical understanding of creation and compassion for the poor led them to speak out on climate change. They also sent letters to the President, urging him to announce new measures against global warming in the State of the Union address; and to Congressional leaders, urging them to chart a new course for the United States to solve global warming. Their statement was called “Cooling Our Future: A Declaration by Young Evangelicals on Climate Change”.
Ben Lowe, who attends Wheaton College and was part of the delegation in Washington, said: “Climate change is a crisis for all of us, and must be addressed as such. As young evangelicals, we hope that our government leaders will tackle the challenge of reducing global warming pollution. Making the world safer for our generation, and for their grandchildren, is not exclusively Republican or Democratic; it is a moral issue, and the faithful expression of God’s people.”
The young Christians’ statement was developed last spring and the signatures of college-aged students were collected with the partnership of Restoring Eden, an EEN partner organization that ministers on Christian college campuses. As part of the Washington event, the group of students was briefed on climate legislation and Christian environmental responsibility by staff from EEN and Restoring Eden. The Evangelical Youth Climate Initiative included students from Wheaton College, Abilene Christian University, Point Loma Nazarene, Azusa Pacific University, Houghton College, Bethel University, UNC-Chapel Hill, Montreat College, Toccoa Falls College, Trinity Christian College, Palm Beach Atlantic College, and others.
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