Young Baptists are Going Green: Environment is their new priority

[yardwork]

Source: Raleigh NC News&Observer

ATLANTA - Sarah McCoy mixes her own laundry detergent from biodegradable ingredients, saves cardboard by taking a cookie sheet to the pizzeria to bring home a pie, and got her parents rechargeable batteries for Christmas.

She's not just another tree-hugger, though. She's a 26-year-old divinity school student at Campbell University in Buies Creek and a new generation of Baptist leader who characterizes global warming as a "burr in my butt."

On Thursday, McCoy was one of 2,500 people who bought $35 tickets to lunch on salad and chicken while former vice president Al Gore, also a Baptist, delivered his now-famous slide show on the crisis confronting the Earth because of global warming. Gore's presentation was part of the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant, a gathering of black and white Baptists, moderates and liberals, meeting at the Georgia World Congress Center.

Among those in attendance, McCoy represents the new generation of Baptists who will one day take the helm of churches across the nation. Their passion for environmental stewardship signals a different slate of concerns they'll champion as they move into positions of leadership.

"The environment is the No. 1 issue in terms of how we are putting hands and feet to the call of Christ -- not just saying but doing," said Bailey Edwards Nelson, a 24-year-old divinity school student at Mercer University's McAfee School of Theology in Atlanta.

On the second day of celebration, orchestrated by former President Jimmy Carter, divinity school students mingled with the old guard -- adult leaders in their 60s who planned and organized the event but who grew up in a far different world. The celebration is thought to be the first time black and white Baptists have ever met together on a large scale.

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Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/lifestyles/religion/story/917058.html

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This is a hopeful sign.

It's sad that the corporate-owned media always portray Republicans as "good Christians," while ignoring the very real faith of Democrats, including Gore, Carter, and the Clintons.

[Ellen Forradalom]

1. There's hope for the world.

[Kerrytravelers]

2. Glad to see this.

Shame the conservative Baptists weren't there, too. Climate crisis affects us all, and they need to wake up to that reality sooner rather than later.

[skater314159]

6. The southern Baptists wouldn't be there...

... there are women preachers there... which I think SBC members see as some kinda apostasy or heresy or something.

The city where I currently live (Dallas) has a SBC "seminary" - but they don't allow women to take ANY courses in theology, languages, homeletics, exposition, or anything else that is "only for men"... and they also don't have classes on other faith groups and religions (which I guess isn't surprsing, but it was SHOCKING to me since I was "undeclared religon" in seminary and grad school). There was a woman lecturer/professor who was fired because it wasn't "fitting for a woman to teach men, much less men going into the ministry". As a person raised an Epsica-Cathli-Jew who had women Rabbis and Priests and Nuns teaching me all along, its a shock to NOT have women teaching! Man!

I think its great there are Liberal and open-minded Baptists... maybe they can influence the SBC!

:hippie:

PS - don't move to Dallas if you are allergic to conservative xians or Baptists in particular... this is like the Baptist and conservative xian Vatican. Just a health warning there!

Peace!

[yardwork]

7. Living in the south, I've learned that Baptists are a highly diverse group.

There are dozens of different subgroups of Baptists, and some of them are very progressive. In fact, one of my neighbors - a member of a progressive Baptist church in my town - told me that a precept of the Baptist movement is individual choice among congregations. She said that the Southern Baptist Convention is very "un-Baptist" in their insistence on a central authority dictating to other congregations.

As a lapsed Episcopalian, I was somewhat surprised and heartened by this news. Many mainstream Protestant groups, including Episcopalians, have a centralized authority. I had just assumed that Baptists were the same. Apparently not. They can be very feisty and they don't all think the same.

Jimmy Carter is a Baptist. So is Al Gore. So is Bill Clinton.

[Javaman]

3. So it seems they want to cut back on the fire and brimstone...

it pollutes the atmosphere...:)

[Az_lefty]

4. Glad to see the younger generation waking up...

probably why there so hot to get Obama elected. Throw out the old guard and put America on a new path.

[skater314159]

5. Wow! This makes me a Happy Chaplain!

It's always good when I see people using their faith to help the world a better place!

I hope this movement really catches on... it makes me glad that people my age in more conservative faiths and religious groups are taking a stand for the environment. It says that we can work together to make a better, more sustainable future for all!

This reminded me of when I was a youth minister and used the following infopack to teach about democracy and environmental action:

http://greenpack.rec.org/citizens_rights/lessons/21-1.pdf

(Just felt like sharing that with you guys!)

Peace!
:hippie:

[RuleOfNah]

8. "not just saying but doing"

Louder please.