Looks like the pack ice managed to hold together for one more day. Boy, that was close! Keep your fingers crossed.
Posted on 03/28/2007 1:14:11 PM PDT by Alex Murphy
ORMOND BEACH -- Paper plates are out at the Unitarian Universalist Society's potluck dinners.
Glassware is in, even though it means long dishwashing sessions, Gaia Davies said.
She is a member of the Green Sanctuary Initiative, which is about making "the congregation as green as possible."
Throughout the country, many churches are adopting environmentally friendly practices despite some resistance from social conservatives and critics who question the human impact on climate change.
Unitarians see environmentalism as a moral imperative, said Bud Murphy, pastor of the Unitarian Universalist Society on Halifax Drive.
"Almost every church has a oneness concept (with the universe)," said Murphy.
"By taking care of our home," Murphy said, "we are respecting ourselves as an extension of the universe."
The congregation watched Al Gore's documentary on climate change called "An Inconvenient Truth" in January.
On weekends, the Unitarians are weeding out the exotic potato vine species from their property's half-acre of woods. The hammock could become a sanctuary for gopher tortoises. The Rev. Sarah Lund, pastor of the United Church of Christ in New Smyrna Beach, recently gave a sermon called "The Prodigal Nation" in which she compared the waste of natural resources to the biblical story of the "Prodigal Son" wasting his inheritance.
Instead of giving up chocolate for Lent, Catholics in Portland, Ore., are going on a 40-day carbon-emission diet, said Meg O'Brien, a member of St. Andrew parish.
The goal is for each member to reduce the emission of 5,000 pounds of carbon by making sacrifices like not driving on the weekends or switching to energy-efficient light bulbs.
Sally Vance-Trembeth, a Catholic theologian, said her commitment to the environment led her to give up her snowblower when she taught at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind.
"Before we moved out to San Francisco, I was in the process of converting our large lawn into a prairie," Vance-Trembeth said in an e-mail.
The emphasis on the environment is making some Christians worry about their churches' priorities.
James Dobson, the chairman of Focus on the Family, and two dozen other social conservatives asked the National Association of Evangelicals to oust Vice President Richard Cizik because of his "relentless campaign" against global warming.
In a letter, they said Cizik's obsession is moving evangelicals away from the "great moral issues of our time: notably the sanctity of life, the integrity of marriage and the teaching of sexual abstinence and morality to our children."
But the National Association of Evangelicals affirmed its stance of caring for the environment at a recent meeting.
Catholic Bishop Thomas Wenski of the Orlando Diocese, which includes Volusia County, has weighed in on the national debate on global warming.
"To do nothing could be dangerous and costly to the flourishing of humankind on the planet," Wenski said in a public statement.
The bishop serves as chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on International Policy.
Davies, the Unitarian, said her environmentalism is "not a tree-huggy thing. This is about survival."
Davies, however, acknowledged that it's not easy to change a lifestyle.
"We live frugally," she said. "We live in a small house, drive a Prius, but we take a few airplane trips a year. That can blast the heck out of your footprint (or impact on the environment)."
It is clear that none of these groups believe
in the sovereignty of Elohim.b'shem Yah'shua
It is NOT clear that their beliefs are in any way representative of the groups to which they (claim to) belong. Please do not attempt to reason from the particular to the general; that is illogical.
Good, then as liberals say, "don't legislate morality!"
Irrelegious Left: Sorry J-Dawg, we're going to watch "An Inconvenient Truth", do some composting then tally up our Carbon Footprints.
It may be clear that none of the individuals quoted "believe in the sovereignty of Elohim."
It is NOT clear that their beliefs are in any way representative of the groups to which they (claim to) belong. Please do not attempt to reason from the particular to the general; that is illogical.
3 posted on 03/28/2007 2:32:22 PM MDT by ArrogantBustard
I think you are assuming something that I did not say nor intend to say.
I 'assume' nothing. I read the plain meaning of your post, and the plain meaning of your post is that Unitarians, Evangelicals and Catholics do not "believe in the sovereignty of Elohim."
If you intended to say something other than that, please say it.
Looks like the pack ice managed to hold together for one more day. Boy, that was close! Keep your fingers crossed.
So in this case moralizing is good? It's hard to keep up.
Except the Unitarians, it probably is representative of what those whackos believe, if indeed they are required to believe anything.
That may be true ... but the evidence presented in this article does not support that conclusion. In fact, the evidence from this article is worst for the Evangelicals: "But the National Association of Evangelicals affirmed its stance of caring for the environment at a recent meeting."
And I'm certainly not going to generalize from that. Evangelicals have always seemed to me to be a very loosely organizes, "bottom up" lot. And whatever theological disagreements I may have with them, I have seen little evidence to suggest that they are largely eco-freaks.
... needs to have a nice chat with His Eminence George Cardinal Pell of Australia.
I 'assume' nothing. I read the plain meaning of your post, and the plain meaning of your post is that Unitarians, Evangelicals and Catholics do not "believe in the sovereignty of Elohim."
If you intended to say something other than that, please say it.
7 posted on 03/28/2007 3:06:56 PM MDT by ArrogantBustard
If they think that mankind is causing "Global Warming" Any group that believes in "global warming" or
b'shem Yah'shua
not using paper plates to save the world is silly.
or that they can fix the world or
all of Elohim's creation by their own efforts
is blasphemous.
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