Florida Evangelical megachurch pastor Joel Hunter is part of an unusual coalition opposing the Keystone Pipeline carrying tar sands oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. A prominent board member of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), and a spiritual counselor to President Obama, Hunter has joined with mostly liberal clergy, including several Episcopal Church bishops, plus the Islamic Society of North America, in a public declaration against the pipeline. Richard Cizik, formerly of NAE, is also a signator.
The declaration was advertised in Politico and organized by Interfaith Power & Light, a “climate change” activist group for mostly oldline Protestant clergy and headed by an Episcopal clergy woman.
“As a man of faith, Obama should recognize this moment as an opportunity to protect God’s creation and shape his legacy around the long-term energy strategy of America,” Hunter declares in their news release. “This is a pivotal moment for the president.”
The manifesto reads like any one of one hundred such ignored political declarations from the National Council of Churches or United Methodist Board of Church and Society. Opposition to Keystone is mostly premised on its purported contribution to Global Warming, which is the focus of Interfaith Power & Light. But Canada’s tar sands oil will be developed with or without the pipeline. The oil will transport by train or truck, either of which is more dangerous and less environmentally friendly. And/or it will ship to China, whose environmental standards are much looser than America’s.
Global Warming focused groups like Interfaith Power & Light are essentially against any and all fossil fuels, instead fantasizing about wind and solar as plausible substitutes. But even if wind and solar were truly feasible alternatives, very likely zealous greens like Interfaith Power & Light would oppose them too. Deserts full of solar panels and prairies full of windmills bring their own environmental concerns. Extreme environmentalists are discomfited by any form of human growth and economic development.
After 15 years of “pause” in Global Warming, the climate computer models in which environmentalists placed such assiduous faith have proven fallible. At some point they will pivot to a new cause that argues apocalyptically with equal vigor against any human economic productivity.
Meanwhile, it’s curious why Rev. Hunter has joined the deflating balloon of oldline liberal Protestant environmental scare activism. There are surely worthier causes involving genuine human need that merit his attention. Perhaps more importantly, as a pastor, he should more carefully consider whether his calling is towards political pronouncements on issues of prudential judgment on which there is no settled Christian position. Pastoring a church, preaching the Gospel and directly helping the poor and wounded is calling sufficient unto itself.
Comment by Pastor Mike on March 8, 2014 at 5:18 pm
Hunter majored in political science major in college and has been traditionally conservative theologically and politically through the years, and he generally aligned with evangelicals when he was a pastor in the UMC in Indiana. But his views have gradually shifted while pastoring in Florida, and his emphasis on environmentalism in the past few years seem to have become increasingly tied to left-of-center politics.
Comment by Mark Atwood on March 8, 2014 at 6:12 pm
It’s one thing to debate the environmental pro’s and con’s of the pipeline; reasonable people may differ about that. But I strongly support any believer — evangelical or liberal — who emphasizes the importance of caring for creation. This is a duty of all Christians, and a deeply biblical one. To impugn Rev. Hunter just because he joins with others who we disagree with theologically on this important issue is very nearsighted.
Comment by Jonas Walker on March 8, 2014 at 9:17 pm
So what is the present day alternative to the cheap and abundant power source found in fossil fuels? Is it to cover the nation with millions of acres of wildlife-killing wind farms? We will loose many species, including most eagles. Is it nuclear? Much of the Pacific has elevated radiation from Fukishima (which the US govt is still lying about). Is it to dam up more rivers? Is it the solar panels which are so inefficient as to be economically ruinous without govt subsidies? Are electric cars the salvation of us all? Isn’t the electricity used to charge those cars generated by fossil fuels? What is the plan? Is it to make our electric bills $1000 per month, $2000 per month? Is it to force people to live in 200 square foot boxes like good little drones that can’t afford to heat and cool a real house? What’s the point of being intentionally inefficient? How does it help the environment to destroy our economy by refusing to harvest our own resources? How is this godly? Have any of these pastors read a single one of the hundreds of scholarly papers that refute the claims of the climate change mafia? How does man-made CO2 cause climate change when the earth was far warmer in recent history before the advent of automobiles or the use of fossil fuels? Name one single positive benefit that will result if the pipeline is not built.
Comment by Marco Bell on March 25, 2014 at 8:38 am
“There is no glory to be found in the destruction of God’s Creation.”
On a macro level, it would be prudent to preserve our planet for Christians of the future too!
Why is it that this issue eludes the “faithful” of your stripe? That seems so strange!
Comment by Joey on July 13, 2014 at 1:38 pm
Seems like these verses could help us have a “settled Christian position.”
Deuteronomy 20:19
“When you besiege a city a long time, to make war against it in order to capture it, you shall not destroy its trees by swinging an axe against them; for you may eat from them, and you shall not cut them down. For is the tree of the field a man, that it should be besieged by you?
Haggai 2:8
`The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine,’ declares the LORD of hosts.
Psalms 50:9-12
“I shall take no young bull out of your house Nor male goats out of your folds. “For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills. “I know every bird of the mountains, And everything that moves in the field is Mine. “If I were hungry I would not tell you, For the world is Mine, and all it contains.
Leviticus 25:23
`The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are but aliens and sojourners with Me.
Psalms 24:1-2
The earth is the LORD’S, and all it contains, The world, and those who dwell in it. For He has founded it upon the seas And established it upon the rivers.
Rev. 18:10
‘Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For in one hour your judgment has come.’
11 “And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargoes any more— 12 cargoes of gold and silver and precious stones and pearls and fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet, and every kind of citron wood and every article of ivory and every article made from very costly wood and bronze and iron and marble, 13 and cinnamon and spice and incense and perfume and frankincense and wine and olive oil and fine flour and wheat and cattle and sheep, and cargoes of horses and chariots and slaves and human lives. 14 The fruit you long for has gone from you, and all things that were luxurious and splendid have passed away from you and men will no longer find them. 15 The merchants of these things, who became rich from her, will stand at a distance because of the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning, 16 saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, she who was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls; 17 for in one hour such great wealth has been laid waste!’ And every shipmaster and every passenger and sailor, and as many as make their living by the sea, stood at a distance, 18 and were crying out as they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, ‘What city is like the great city?’ 19 And they threw dust on their heads and were crying out, weeping and mourning, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, in which all who had ships at sea became rich by her ]wealth, for in one hour she has been laid waste!’ 20 Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced judgment for you against her.”
21 Then a strong angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “So will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down with violence, and will not be found any longer. 22 And the sound of harpists and musicians and flute-players and trumpeters will not be heard in you any longer; and no craftsman of any craft will be found in you any longer; and the sound of a mill will not be heard in you any longer; 23 and the light of a lamp will not shine in you any longer; and the voice of the bridegroom and bride will not be heard in you any longer; for your merchants were the great men of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery. 24 And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on the earth.”
Comment by Mark Bell on November 23, 2014 at 5:06 pm
Another pastoral publicity ho.
Comment by Thomas Long on March 26, 2015 at 4:11 pm
Is this the first pipeline that has ever been built? Hunter may have been a liberal theologian from the beginning. Those liberal pastors are the ones he seems most comfortable with– like Wallis and Tony. The pipeline is the most efficient and safe means of transportation by far. If Hunter wants to be a political activist, do it and leave the preaching of the gospel to men who are called by God. Mixing political activism with the preaching and teaching and discipling dilutes the ministry. Where am I wrong?