ECI: Evangelical Christians Impolitic?     10/27/2006
By Lindsay Randall

The Hewlett Foundation's answer to global warming? Abort babies.

In February, 85 prominent evangelicals signed the "Evangelical Climate Initiative" (ECI), which is the "Christian" response to the supposed global warming problem. The document claims that "climate change is happening and is being caused mainly by human activities, especially the burning of fossil fuels." The ECI predicts that "millions of people could die in this century because of climate change." Today, with a total of 97 signatures, this initiative includes mega-church pastor and author Rick Warren, former President of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) Leith Anderson, and Christianity Today editor David Neff.

Interestingly, one of the biggest donors to the ECI is the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, known for its unabashed and overt support for abortion. The willingness of the Hewlett Foundation to contribute $475,000 to an evangelical initiative begs the question, "Why?" Would the Hewlett Foundation fund an evangelical initiative without trying to further its own agenda in the process?

A recent report, jointly released by the respected Institute on Religion & Democracy (IRD) and the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion & Liberty (AI), posits that the real motivation behind the Hewlett Foundation's contribution is to promote population control and abortion-on-demand.

The Hewlett Foundation states on its Web site, "As populations have grown in size and affluence, so too has the negative impact on the environment caused by their greater fossil-fuel use. The real energy crisis is not that the world will run out of fossil fuels, but that the capacity of the environment to absorb pollution will be - and in some case, has already been - exhausted."

The IRD/AI paper argues that the initiative's failure to address population control indicates that "...the ECI signers seem naively unaware that such dystopic interpretations of human activity are often tied to and derived from campaigns to reduce the human population. This connection is not a coincidence. Population control is official doctrine for many environmental groups just as it is in certain circles of the U.N." It goes on to say that "...these Evangelical leaders who in good faith associated themselves with the ECI are being exploited by organizations that not only deny their biblically-based value system, but hold such beliefs in contempt."

CWA President Wendy Wright said, "It is hard to believe that a foundation that gives millions to Planned Parenthood, International Planned Parenthood, the Sierra Club, and the Center for Reproductive Rights would give money to a group and not expect to see the results it wants. The ECI signers are linked to an initiative funded by a group utterly opposed to the basic Christian principle of life. While it is absolutely necessary that Christians be good stewards of the Earth, there is no Biblical basis for elevating the Earth above human beings in priority. We care for Nature so it can sustain God's crowning creation - the only thing made in His image - mankind. When the mission comes in conflict with the Biblical, pro-life stance that evangelicals live by, it negates itself."

"Efforts are clearly underway to obtain endorsements from prominent evangelical leaders for a public relations agenda that, just under the surface, connects 'creation care' to population control and abortion-on-demand," the IRD/AI paper states. The dangerous aspect of toying with population-control environmentalists is that they blame humans: "...since people use up natural resources, release CO2 into the atmosphere and otherwise pollute the environment, the fewer people, the less global warming and less harm to the environment."

Advocates for population control take the next step by promoting abortion-on-demand, which is precisely why the Hewlett Foundation gave $13.7 million to population control efforts in January and February of 2006, according to the IRD/AI paper.

The IRD/AI paper states, "The problem with the ECI is not that it has alliances and connections that go beyond the evangelical community, but that it is supported by and as a result inadvertently gives cover to population control and pro-abortion causes that evangelicals have historically opposed."

Click here to find out more about the Evangelical Climate Initiative.

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