Southern Baptists speak out on the Gulf oil spill | OrthoCuban

Here's an Orthodox Christian view of the changing US Southern Baptist view of the environment, prompted by the oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico.

Southern Baptists speak out on the Gulf oil spill | OrthoCuban:

I find it startling that the first Scripture actually quoted is the Scripture that was chosen as the theme for this year in the Antiochian Orthodox Church, “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” And, it was chosen last year, long before the oil spill. To me, it is a small sign that God was aware of what was coming.

But, more than that, catch a phrase that Southern Baptists have not been known to use before, “to promote future energy policies based on prudence, conservation, accountability, and safety.” This is a vigorous statement of an ecological viewpoint, one that had often been derided before as the purview of “liberals.” Notice also that the previous phrases call for an involvement by government that is a partial repudiation of the stance that many conservatives had taken previously, which was that the government should stay out of private business as much as possible.

ZENIT - Orthodox Patriarch Urges Defense of Planet

ZENIT - Orthodox Patriarch Urges Defense of Planet: "ISTANBUL, Turkey, JUNE 5, 2009 (Zenit.org).- No one is exempt from the 'indisputable obligation' to protect the planet, says the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople.

Bartholomew I affirmed that climate change is the biggest threat for all types of life on earth in a message for today's World Environment Day, sponsored by the United Nations Environment Program.

The Orthodox patriarch urged people 'independently of their religious origins, to take the ecological crisis into consideration,' L'Osservatore Romano reported.

'Today more than ever there is an indisputable obligation for everyone: that of realizing that environmental considerations on our planet are not just romantic ideals of a small group,' he said."