Chicken Little Index on Climate Change Resources

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Dear Christian Friends,
When I read the Dallas Morning News on Monday March 10th I was appalled at finding a news headline that read "Climate Change for Baptist Leaders". Later television and internet news stories followed.
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It seems that Rev. Frank Page president of the Southern Baptist Convention along with a number of past presidents including my pastor Jack Graham and other Baptists have signed a declaration titled "Southern Baptist Environment and Climate Change Initiative". The declaration and the news stories contained numerous disclaimers but the message received by the general public is that the Southern Baptists have thrown in with Al Gore's position on global warming. Since I disagree strongly with this contention I spent several days researching exactly what has taken place and have found information that the majority of Baptists otherwise might not know.
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The assertion that most scientists support the global warming issue is something that can't be known since there are thousands of scientists that either have not made their position known or have no position. The loudest ones that have publicly proclaimed their support are ones that have government sponsored research grants or represent institutions that have or want research grants. For some relevant opposing scientific views click on the web pages below. The 1st link is John Coleman's (Founder of the Weather Channel) fox news interview. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,337710,00.html

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This event has inspired me to produce this resource index. I am including here correspondence that I have had with SBC Commissions along with links to the relevant web sites that all Christians have a right to see. It doesn't matter to me what position a person takes I just want to keep the conversation honest. Feel Free to forward any of this information.
In Christ, Jimmy Huffman CreationWas@TheBeginning.com

This link is a typical news story concerning the declaration. I don't know how long these links will be available. http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/10/baptist.climate/

The declaration titled "Southern Baptist Environment and Climate Initiative" can be found at this web address. It seeks to collect signatures of those who agree with it's content. The "Contact Us" button can be used to send them any dissenting views that you may have. Please do so as I find much of it factually incorrect. Further note that Baptists including Church Deacons were not notified in advance or consulted regarding this document. http://www.baptistcreationcare.org/node/6


Letter from Bobby Reed SBC Vice President for Business & Finance

The implication that this is an official Southern Baptist document or position is incorrect. Please see This letter from Bobby Reed SBC Vice Pres. for Bus. and Finance

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Thank you for contacting us related to the global warming issue. Please be aware that the document to which you refer is not an official document of the Southern Baptist Convention or the SBC's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) and does not represent an official position of the Convention or the ERLC on this matter.
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Let me clarify, if you will. At the ERLC, we very much encourage your thoughts and comments and count it a privilege to serve you. However, your issue is not, or at least should not be, with The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, Richard Land, or the Southern Baptist Convention. They had no part in this document. Your issue is with the individuals who signed the document, none of whom speak for the Southern Baptist Convention. I would strongly encourage you to contact those individuals and express your concerns to them. I hope this is somewhat helpful. Please let me know if you have any further questions or comments.
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Bobby Reed
SBC Vice President for Business & Finance


A statement from the president of the SBC Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission. http://erlc.com/article/erlc-president-reacts-to-southern-baptist-declaration-on-the-environment-an

The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of The Southern Baptist Convention
ERLC president reacts to ‘Southern Baptist Declaration on the Environment and Climate Change’

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NASHVILLE, Tenn., March 10, 2008—Dr. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, issued the following statement today regarding the recently released “Southern Baptist Declaration on the Environment and Climate Change.”
Land answered questions about the ERLC’s lack of support for the declaration explaining that as an official SBC entity, the ERLC follows the consensus of Southern Baptists on public policy matters as determined by the SBC meeting in session each year.
He also stated, “The ERLC does not agree that Southern Baptists have been ‘too timid’” in addressing the issues of creation care and environmental stewardship.
Land’s statement follows:
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“While official Southern Baptist Convention resolutions are not binding on the conscience of any Southern Baptist, they are instructive, particularly to those of us who have the privilege of serving all Southern Baptists through one of the Convention’s official entities.
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“One of the responsibilities that accompanies this privilege of serving Southern Baptists is to seek the broadest possible consensus on issues where the Convention has spoken and to encourage change, when it is considered appropriate, through private discussion and dialogue to reach new consensus rather than public critique. We continue to encourage, and to participate in, such dialogues on this issue, as well as many other important issues. “Southern Baptist public policy advocacy is most effective when it is supported by the broadest possible consensus among Southern Baptists.
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“The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission has a Convention-assigned role to express the consensus of Southern Baptists on public policy matters when they have reached such consensus. If the ERLC asserted Southern Baptists were in a different place on an issue than they actually were, we would lose the trust of Southern Baptists, and we would rapidly lose our credibility in Washington as well. Individual Southern Baptists may feel greater latitude in expressing disagreement on issues on which the Convention has spoken than do spokespersons related to official SBC entities. “The Southern Baptist Convention had an opportunity at its 2007 Convention in San Antonio, Texas, to address this issue in the manner it is addressed in ‘A Southern Baptist Declaration on the Environment and Climate Change.’ Instead, the Convention’s voting messengers, elected by their local churches, voted approximately 60 to 40 percent to remove the following language from the proposed resolution:
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Be it ‘RESOLVED, That we encourage continued government funding to find definitive answers on the issue of human-induced global warming that are based on empirical facts and are free of ideology and partisanship; and be it further. . . .
‘RESOLVED, That we support economically responsible government initiatives and funding to locate and implement viable energy alternatives to oil, reducing our dependence on foreign oil and decreasing the amount of CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions.
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“The officially adopted resolution, minus the above language, is as close to an ‘official’ position as the SBC is capable of making, apart from its formal confession of faith, The Baptist Faith and Message. “Consequently, in our Convention-assigned role to share faithfully with Washington and other public policy venues where the Convention is on an issue, it would be misleading and unethical of the ERLC to promote a position at variance with the Convention’s expressly stated positions.
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“Given the fact the Convention has officially addressed the issues of creation care and environmental stewardship in its 2006 and 2007 Conventions through resolutions adopted by the Convention’s duly elected messengers (see links below to view cited SBC resolutions), the ERLC does not agree that Southern Baptists have been ‘too timid’ in addressing these issues.
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“Southern Baptists, collectively and individually, jealously guard their independence and autonomy. They reserve to themselves the right to decide through Convention action what the Southern Baptist Convention’s public policy positions are to be. The ERLC will continue to share the officially adopted positions of the Convention with public policy makers and the media. Thus, the ERLC has declined to endorse ‘A Southern Baptist Declaration on the Environment and Climate Change’ in its present form.”

Statement from the SBC General Counsel D. August Boto, Executive Vice President and General Counsel Executive Committee SBC.
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Like you, I regret the confusion caused when a new "Southern Baptist something" comes along that is an effort by Southern Baptists as distinguished from an effort by the Convention itself.
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The term "Southern Baptist" is not a legally protectable term due to its generally descriptive nature. The term (the full name) "Southern Baptist Convention" IS legally protectable.
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Therefore, had the declaration you corresponded about been named "A Southern Baptist Convention Declaration on the Environment and Climate Change", we would have requested, on behalf of the Convention, that the group change the name. When I have made such requests in the past, I have always asked that it be made clear somehow in the title that SOME Southern Baptists are taking an act or forming a new business or group.
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In this case, the name issue is "over the dam" so to speak, but had I been called into the matter beforehand I would have asked that they title the declaration with a name like "Call for Environmental Responsibility Among Southern Baptists". Such a title would have beggedthe question "Who is making the call?" That way, news agencies asking the question would have done a better job characterizing the initiative as one spawned by a subset. Obviously, there is never any guarantee that any suggestion I would make about a name would be abided by voluntarily, but most have been in the past.
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As to suing to enforce the SBC's exclusive use of its full name, I have never had to do that. My raising an objection in those situations has always resulted in an apology and/or a withdrawal. I hope this brings some clarity.
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Wishing you many blessings, D. August Boto, Executive Vice President and General Counsel Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention901 Commerce Street, Nashville, TN 37203-3699Voice (615) 782-8622 Fax (615) 782-4820
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