Dozens of leading US evangelists went public on Wednesday with a call for their faithful to press the administration of US President George W. Bush into action on climate change.
Eighty-six influential evangelists yesterday endorsed an environmental action plan that calls on the Bush administration to impose mandatory limits on the fossil fuel emissions that scientists blame for warmer temperatures.
The initiative marks a rare challenge to Bush from one of his most loyal constituencies: his fellow Christians. Bush, a former Texas oil man, has refused to acknowledge the dangers caused by burning fossil fuels and his administration has repeatedly been accused of stifling scientific evidence on the issue of climate change.
Wednesday's signatories include the national commander of the Salvation Army, Todd Bassett, the author of the bestselling The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren, the editor of Christianity Today, David Neff, and Duane Litfin, the president of Wheaton College, the leading Christian university.
However, the environmentally minded evangelists were not joined by prominent conservative figures such as Pat Robertson and James Dobson, who insist there is little evidence of the harmful effects of global warming.
"Our commitment to Jesus Christ compels us to solve the global warming crisis," the leaders said in an advertisement prepared as part of a campaign to convince Christians of the dangers of climate change.
"As evangelical Christians, we believe that we're called to be stewards of God's creation, and after considerable study, reflection and prayer we are now convinced it's time for our country to help solve the problem of global warming." they wrote.
They said they were also guided by the moral obligation to help the poor and the marginalised, who were the worst hit by flood, famine and other calamities.
The evangelists claim recent polling suggests widespread concern about the health of the planet, and that 54 percent of evangelicals believed it to be a Christian duty to support environmental issues.
The initiative came as scientists announced yesterday that global warming is already causing death and disease across the world through flooding, environmental destruction, heatwaves and other extreme weather events.
In a review published in the Lancet medical journal, the scientists said there was now a near-unanimous scientific consensus that rising levels of greenhouse gases would cause global warming and other climate changes.
The scientists' review of dozens of scientific papers over the last five years said that health risks were likely to get worse over time as climate change as well as other environmental and social changes deepened.
The review said climate change would bring changes in temperature, sea levels, rainfall, humidity and winds.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of