The nation's two largest religious denominations have taken significant steps to promote a healthier environment.
A group of more than 40 Southern Baptist leaders have signed a declaration calling for action on climate change. Released today, the declaration marks a major departure from the resolution passed last year by the Southern Baptist Convention questioning whether human activity significantly contributes to global warming. The SBC is the nation's second-largest denomination after the Roman Catholic Church.
The SBC's current president, Rev. Frank Page, signed the declaration, as did past presidents Jack Graham and James Merritt. The document calls on Baptist churches to promote creation care, and it calls on individual Baptists to give "serious consideration" to responsible policies addressing the climate problem:
The statement from Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti follows Pope Benedict's earlier declaration that issues such as climate change and care of water resources "are matters of grave importance for the entire human family."
A group of more than 40 Southern Baptist leaders have signed a declaration calling for action on climate change. Released today, the declaration marks a major departure from the resolution passed last year by the Southern Baptist Convention questioning whether human activity significantly contributes to global warming. The SBC is the nation's second-largest denomination after the Roman Catholic Church.
The SBC's current president, Rev. Frank Page, signed the declaration, as did past presidents Jack Graham and James Merritt. The document calls on Baptist churches to promote creation care, and it calls on individual Baptists to give "serious consideration" to responsible policies addressing the climate problem:
We believe our current denominational engagement with these issues have often been too timid, failing to produce a unified moral voice. Our cautious response to these issues in the face of mounting evidence may be seen by the world as uncaring, reckless and ill-informed. We can do better. To abandon these issues to the secular world is to shirk from our responsibility to be salt and light. The time for timidity regarding God’s creation is no more.And in a newspaper interview published this past weekend, a top Vatican official was asked about "new sins" and listed "ecological offenses" among modern evils. Also on the list were genetic manipulation, drug trafficking, and social and economic injustices.
The statement from Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti follows Pope Benedict's earlier declaration that issues such as climate change and care of water resources "are matters of grave importance for the entire human family."
http://baptistperspective.brucegourley.com/2009/07/health-care-debate-and-tommy-douglas.html
Thursday, July 30, 2009
The Health Care Debate and Tommy Douglas, Greatest Canadian of All Time
Few Americans may realize that a Baptist minister is recognized by Canadians as the "Greatest Canadian of All Time." Tommy Douglas, who died in 1986, is one of history's most influential Baptists that few outside of Canada know. And here in the summer of 2009, Douglas' legacy is extremely relevant to the biggest issue facing Americans: health care.
Tommy Douglas, you see, was the man who brought about Canada's universal public health care system, a health care system which Canadians for several generations now have chosen to pay extra taxes to operate and maintain, and a health care system which 91% of Canadians today view as superior to America's health care system. Furthermore, Douglas set Canada on the road to universal health care during the Great Depression, while here in America today President Obama is seeking to do the very same thing during the current Great Recession.
Douglas, a minister turned politician, first became personally aware of the moral imperative of health care when as a child he almost lost his leg to a disease because his family could not pay for treatment; only by the good graces of a doctor, who offered his medical services for free, was Douglas' leg saved. Influenced by the Christian principles of the Social Gospel while in collge, Douglas pastored for several years before entering politics during the Depression in 1935, becoming the Premier of Saskatchewan in 1942. He remained a leading politician in Canada for many years, consistently advocating for universal health care and basic human rights. Under his leadership, the Saskatchewan Bill of Rights was enacted. And while securing public health care for all citizens, Douglas paid off government debt and created a surplus.
Although today most Americans want a public health care option, we as a nation are slow to the table in responding to the moral imperative of basic universal public health care (although a number of presidents, beginning with Teddy Roosevelt, have personally supported public health care). If we as a nation this year do manage to place human life above the greed-driven free market health insurance industry by enacting a public health care option, we have Tommy Douglas to thank, one of the greatest Baptists of the past century.
Posted by Bruce Gourley at 7:00 AM
Labels: baptist, government, greed, health care, insurance, Teddy Roosevelt, Tommy Douglas
August 10, 2009 12:31 PM | Reply