Preaching the Gospel Green

What’s on tap for ’07?

Well first, we still need to convince those evangelicals who remain unconvinced that this is central to their biblical obligation. And in doing so we’ll be changing history, we’ll be going back almost a century to the Scopes trial. So we’re rewriting the notion that evangelicals are antiscience troglodytes. We think ’07 will be the year we put a climate-change initiative bill on the president’s desk.

Do you think the president will sign such an initiative?

I think so. Otherwise, he’ll be the last person in America to acknowledge this crisis, and that would be a really unfortunate mar on his legacy.

There’s a prevailing sense that in the past you’ve been reigned in by the NAE for being too outspoken about climate change. Under the new leadership of NAE interim president Leith Anderson, do you feel a bit more free?

[ Long pause. ] Yes, yes I do. The evangelical movement is clearly on board with this. Does everybody agree entirely on solutions? Not yet, but that doesn’t bother me. What’s important to acknowledge is that there have been institutional changes in our movement that will make it more likely that we will assume our rightful place in public dialogue.