Recycling for Jesus

Every Sunday, Pastor Joel Hunter beams his sermon to more than 7,000 video-linked megachurchgoers in central Florida. Lately, he’s been telling his flock that the path to salvation isn’t just through abstinence and heterosexuality, but energy-efficient light bulbs and hybrid cars. Meet the new evangelicals – socially conservative but environmentally conscious – and a growing force in American society. Last spring, Hunter and 85 other church leaders broke with the old guard when they signed the Evangelical Climate Initiative, a pledge to fight global warming. Here, Hunter tells us why God wants us to be green.

Q. A poll last year found that 70% of evangelical Christians believe global warming is a serious threat to future generations. Is this a sweeping change in priorities?

It’s actually an awakening, it’s not a change. The Bible has always talked about taking care of the Earth. As a matter of fact, that’s the first order we got in the Garden, where it said to cultivate the earth and keep it. The Hebrew words are abad and shamar – you see them on police cars, they mean “to serve” and “to protect.” And throughout the Scripture it talks about taking care of the gift of creation, and so on. However, the problem is that it’s not been very high on our priority list. Most of evangelical Christianity has not really paid attention to that until recently, when this climate-change revelation brought it to our attention. This is a front-burner issue now, because we are fast polluting the earth to the extent that the poor especially are going to be hurt. Knowing how Jesus always prioritized the poor and cared for those who are vulnerable, we’ve always known we’re supposed to do this but we’ve never really done it. 

Q. When you talk about a climate change revelation, what was the catalyst for that?

I think the research of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has been the catalytic vehicle. Hundreds of scientists from 130 nations, they’re all peer reviewed – this is a very conservative document. They’ve been doing the research since ’88, coming out every five years with a new report. Their technology and measuring devices have been increasing in sophistication. The fact that they are so alarmed, the fact that they now say that there’s a 90% chance that this is human induced, and the fact that this has been agreed to or signed off on by every major academy of science – this is pretty persuasive evidence that we need to pay attention.

Q. Was there an event for you personally? Was there ever a time when you doubted global warming was real?

I’ve thought about it for years. In the back of my mind, when I first heard the whole global warming thing, I immediately dismissed it as another kook conspiracy. A friend of mine – a very credible person – called me up and said, “We’re asking the major leaders of evangelical Christianity in America to sign this document, the Evangelical Climate Initiative. Would you take a look at it?” And I thought, well, he’s my friend and he’s a pretty sharp guy, so maybe I better look at it. So I started doing research. I was so persuaded by what I was reading – it didn’t come in a person or a moment, but it came from reading both the evidence for and those who said they had evidence against.

Q. What’s your strategy for convincing Christians who still don’t believe in global warming? Have you encountered any resistance within your own congregation?

Oh yeah. (Laughs) I’ve had people come visit me saying “Pastor, here’s where you’re wrong.” I don’t spend a lot of time trying to convince people who are resolutely skeptical. What I do is I try to tell people what I believe and why I believe it, and the people who are persuadable are usually persuaded. There have been a couple of families who have left the church, because they listen to Rush Limbaugh, or Senator Inhofe just going off on this, characterizing everybody who cares about the environment as pagans and kooks. But yet for every one of those there are at least 20 coming up and saying, “Thank you, finally.” The younger generation always goes, “Well duh, what took you guys so long?” But yes, I am vilified and attacked by a few in the community, and that’s the price of any kind of leadership.

Q. What are some of the environmental measures your church is taking?

We have a group that’s doing all the research right now on how to approach this as a church. We’re having an energy audit done by professionals, and it’s costing us quite a bit of money. But what we will come out with in the end is how the whole organization of the church, every department, can lessen their carbon footprint and have a more positive effect on the environment. For the people, we are periodically publishing lists of things that any individual can do. Lastly, on a state and national level, we’re watching what companies we buy from and invest in, and what candidates really do care for the environment. That won’t be the only issue or even the prime issue, but that will certainly be on our radar screen. Those kinds of common sense things that any church can do.

Q. Given that some evangelicals are now in partnership with scientists, are there concerns within your movement that accepting the science of global warming means you have to accept the science of evolution?

The evangelical community is very broad. There is the anti-intellectual fundamentalist side, and those people don’t talk with anybody. There are some who believe in intelligent design, and who believe in evolution, and that’s how God made the world. The Hebrew word yom does not exclusively mean a 24-hour day, so when it talks about the days of creation, it could be a very long age. Certainly there are some who are nervous about having conversations with these secular humanist scientists, but on the other hand, I love these guys – they’re wonderful people. They have just as much of a stereotype of what a Christian is as what a Christian has of what a scientist is. We’re getting together and finding out we’re both fairly articulate, we both want to do the right thing, and we kind of like each other.