Tulsa World Article Finds Lots Of Climate Skepticism Among Preachers, Oral Roberts Professors

[hatrack]

Read on - and be prepared to watch the irony meter fall from the wall!

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As Earth Day 2009 Wednesday refocuses attention on global warming, a new poll finds Americans deeply divided on the question. LifeWay Research polled 1,000 Protestant pastors and found them evenly split on whether global warming is real and man-made — 47 percent agreed, 47 percent disagreed and the rest didn't know.

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The Rev. Nick Garland, pastor of First Baptist Church in Broken Arrow, said he thinks climate goes through cycles, but humans are not causing global warming. He said the green movement is an attempt to diminish the power and influence of the industrial West, and is politically motivated by those who want a one-world socialist system.

The Lifeway poll also found that conservative pastors rarely preached on the environment. "I don't address that much," said the Rev. Bill Hulse, pastor of Parkview Baptist Church. "We need to be good stewards of the creation," he said, "but a lot of research seems to indicate that global warmers' research is not accurate. "It's almost becoming a religion, a very popular bandwagon for people to jump on," he said. "Everything's green now. It certainly is a popular trend and buzzword."

Ed. - emphasis added.

Nathan Meleen, professor of earth science and geography for 40 years at Oral Roberts University, said he was concerned that people may be moving from an irrational lack of concern to an equally irrational panic about the environment. "It's one of the most complex issues that you can face. Climate is so notoriously complex and full of surprises," he said. He believes global warming is real, he said, and is caused by man, but with one caveat: Its ramifications are much less known. "There is a healthy skepticism among scientists, a lot more certainly than (among) people like Al Gore," he said. "The bottom line is, we just don't know."

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http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20090422_18_A1_Downto229670&allcom=1

[Maccagirl]

1. "Diminish the power of the Industrial West"...

Doesn't the "industrial west" do a fairly good job of self-destructing? I don't see where the "green" movement is profiting. The Rev. Garland doesn't think humans cause global climate change? So is God to blame?

[derby378]

2. It is an insult to skeptics to call this attitude skepticism

I know honest-to-goodness skeptics who have their own doubts on global climate change, and what I'm seeing here is anything but skepticism. It's dogma wrapped in deliberate ignorance.