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Young Evangelicals Become Part of the Green Movement

-- Ellie -- 07/02/2007

There are an estimated sixty million evangelical Christians in the United States today. In past elections, they have proven to be a vital voting bloc, with some suggesting that the evangelical community provided the margin of victory for President George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004. But is the evangelical community changing its outlook on climate change?

Before his death, Reverend Jerry Falwell voiced his concerns about the green movement, suggesting it was distracting evangelical Christians from the movement's core issues, like gay marriage and abortion. However, this placed him at odds with a growing chorus of relgious leaders, such as Richard Cizik, the vice president of the National Organization of Evangelicals, who has called for action to reverse the effects of global warming.

It appears that a significant shift may be taking place, at least with respect to the list of concerns within the evangelical community. Polls show increasing numbers of evangelicals think that global warming poses a threat to future generations. And younger evangelicals are concerned more with international human rights, health care, and climate change, than the "wedge issues" that interested older evangelicals. As we get closer to next year's elections, its encouraging to hear that young voters, whatever their party or religion, are concerned about global warming.