ProgressOhio

Whoopee, another religious group has declared that global warming is a real threat.

Rachel Zoll of AP reports: "In a major shift, a group of Southern Baptist leaders said their denomination has been 'too timid' on environmental issues and has a biblical duty to stop global warming."

First off -- Duh. Of course Republican-leaning conservative churches have been too soft on environmental issues. The Baptists and Catholics are about 30 years late in getting on the global warming bandwagon.

The AP article goes on to say: "The signers of A Southern Baptist Declaration on the Environment and Climate Change acknowledge that not all Christians accept the science behind global warming. They said they do not expect fellow believers to back any proposed solutions that would violate Scripture, such as advocating population control through abortion."

Whoa! Back up! Not even Communist China with its one-child policy (which was instituted, btw, so that millions of people wouldn't starve to death) would advocate population control through abortion. What kind of convoluted thinking is that? Besides, the Bible says nothing about abortion.

NO ONE WANTS TO HAVE AN ABORTION, you ninnies. I wish we lived in a world without poverty, rape, incest, genetic diseases, maternal illnesses, contraceptive failure, unprotected moments of passion and human fallibility, but we don't.

Even the loudest science-deniers have to agree: people cause pollution. You can't get a grip on pollution (and especially CO2 emissions), if the population numbers don't stabilize. In some parts of the world, that means using birth control and encouraging couples to have two children or less.

I don't know what the Baptist policy is on birth control, but with Catholics it's a no-no. Advocating responsible stewardship of the earth and at the same time denying the rights of individuals to limit their family size is deeply hypocritical in my opinion. Only the arrogant believe their right to reproduce is limitless.

Back to the abortion issue: the way to reduce the number of abortions is not to ban it -- that only makes it unsafe -- but to prevent unplanned pregnancies from happening in the first place. That is precisely the agenda of the third annual Prevention First Lobby Day April 9 at the YWCA in Columbus. If you sign up before April 1, it only costs $10, and that includes lunch. (Leave it to the ladies to organize this low-cost but highly effective day of activism.)

Government is starting to get it together on abortion and environmental issues. It's your turn now, churches.