As a member of the Christian Left, one of my biggest frustrations is science deniers.?It’s positively maddening to try to talk to these people. Not all Christians are science deniers, of course. As with any group of people, the ones who make the news are the radicals. However, instead of confronting the idiots, the rational Christians simply ignore the issue. It’s like they’re afraid of giving the impression that they’re questioning their faith.
From my perspective, as a Christian and a discerning human being, God is science. I tell people who deny science that they’re essentially slapping God in the face and acting as if he just waved a magic wand. I tell them that if you really believe in the power of God, denying the fact that he is the greatest science is blasphemy. I’m a rough person — I try to “talk sense into them.” An ineffective method, as any good educator would tell you.
Enter people like Katharine Hayhoe and her husband Andrew Farley. They’re an unlikely pair in some ways. They talk to Christians about science and climate change in a way that makes them stop and listen instead of recoiling defensively. From Amazon’s description of their book, A Climate for Change: Global Warming Facts for Faith-Based Decisions:
Katharine Hayhoe is a?a professor in the Department of Geosciences at Texas Tech University and CEO of ATMOS Research, a scientific consulting company. She contributed her research to and served as Expert Reviewer for the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Katharine’s work has been presented before the U.S. Congress, highlighted by state and federal agencies, and featured in over 200 newspapers and media outlets around the world.
Andrew Farley is the lead teaching pastor of Ecclesia (EcclesiaOnline.com) and co-hosts Real Life in Christ, a 30-minute program that airs every week on ABC-TV in the West Texas area. Andrew served as a professor at the University of Notre Dame for five years and is now a tenured professor at Texas Tech University. Andrew has coauthored three textbooks and more than a dozen journal articles. He is also the author of The Naked Gospel: The Truth You May Never Hear in Church. (2009)
Together, these two are trying to tackle science denial, especially climate change denial, in the Christian community.
Note:?I don’t know why A Climate for Change: Global Warming Facts for Faith-Based Decisions?is?so expensive?–I’ll ask the author and update this article if she gets back to me. It appears to be only available as a rare used book.
I’m not sure how much success they will have in their mission. Climate deniers are pretty committed to their denial. But most definitely, Hayhoe and Farley’s approach in trying to talk to Christians about science is more effective than mine.
I know that many of my readers are non-believers. I also know that many of you like me personally, but you generally think Christians are idiots. I do think, however, that we can all agree that our common goal here is getting people on board with doing our part to take care of the world we live in.
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Tiffany Willis is the founder and editor-in-chief of Liberal America. An unapologetic member of the Christian Left, she has spent most of her career actively working with ?the least of these? and disadvantaged and oppressed populations. She’s passionate about their struggles. To stay on top of topics she discusses,?like her?Facebook page,?follow her on Twitter, or?connect with her via LinkedIn. She also has?a?grossly neglected personal blog?and a?literary quotes blog that is a labor of love. Find her somewhere and join the discussion.
