WASHINGTON -- Senate Democrats framed their health care and climate bills with moral appeals and complained about Republican roadblocks during a roundtable discussion with reporters Wednesday.
"I want to get this off my chest," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who is continuing to head up work on a health care plan this week. "We're trying to move forward to do something to take care of Medicaid. There are dozens of things they've held us up on and they're doing that because they're betting on our failure."
Reid was joined by senators including Barbara Boxer (Calif.), Debbie Stabenow (Mich.), Ben Cardin (Maryland) and Bob Casey (Penn.).
Failure to reform health care will create a heavier burden for the faith community to care for the poor, sick and elderly, said Sen. Ben Cardin.
"The faith community is being called upon to provide more resources and do more things that should be in our system collectively," Cardin said.
If the religious community is ever going to come together in the area of public policy, it should be over the concerns of health care and climate change, said Barbara Boxer. She said she's been "thrilled" with support from the religious community for her climate change bill introduced with Sen. John Kerry earlier this month. The bill would require emissions be reduced to 97 percent of 2005 levels by 2012, 80 percent by 2010 and 17 percent by 2050.
Boxer, who is chairman of the Senate environment committee, said she also hopes for support from the religious community in December when she and other leaders meet in Copenhagen to discuss climate change.
She said churches, synagogues, and mosques should be the ones highlighting the moral responsibility to care for the health of people and the planet.
"Let's face it, God is very popular," she said. "So it's important people hear this in their daily lives."
Posted by Sarah Pulliam Bailey at October 22, 2009 | Comments (6)
Richard Cizik's resignation from the National Association of Evangelicals prompted a letter from more than 50 evangelicals who support Cizik's attempts to broaden the evangelical agenda. More people are signing the letter here.
I wrote a story on CT's site today about those who are celebrating and lamenting his resignation and what it means for environmental advocacy.
The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found a statistically significant comparison from 2006 to 2008 that shows a 12 percent drop in evangelicals who said they believe that there is solid evidence that the earth is getting warmer. Many evangelicals debate over whether global warming is man-made, but the drop in this survey appears to come from those who believe that global warming is caused by natural causes.
Will Richard Cizik's resignation as NAE vice president affect evangelical creation care? You can vote today here or comment below.
Posted by Sarah Pulliam Bailey at December 16, 2008 | Comments (4)
California completes the trend nationwide: abortion ballot measures lose, marriage measures win.
Both were tight: with 92 percent of the ballots counted, California's parental notification measure failed by less than 500,000 votes (out of nearly 10 million).
Proposition 8, which revokes same-sex marriage, is even tighter, winning by 363,639 votes (a 3.6 point margin). This is going to be a huge story today, since it's the first time that a state has barred same-sex marriage after allowing it.
Not close at all was California's measure regulating livestock confinement, which passed by almost a 2-to-1 margin.
Posted by Ted Olsen at November 5, 2008 | Comments (10)
In case you haven't seen it yet, Tina Fey included a small religion reference in her most recent Saturday Night Live skit.
"Gwen, we don't know if this climate change hoozie-what's-it is man-made or if it's just a natural part of the 'End of Days.'"
Posted by Sarah Pulliam Bailey at October 6, 2008 | Comments (11)
John McCain has repeatedly said in his campaign that humans causes global warming while his running mate has publicly questioned scientists' claims, the Washington Post reports.
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin established a sub-cabinet to deal with climate change issues a year ago, but she has focused on how to adapt to global warming rather than how to combat it, Juliet Eilperin writes.
"She fought the administration's listing of polar bears as threatened with extinction because of shrinking sea ice" Eilperin writes. "Palin sued to overturn the decision on the grounds that it will 'have a significant adverse impact on Alaska because additional regulation of the species and its habitat . . . will deter activities such as commercial fisheries, oil and gas exploration and development, transportation and tourism within and off-shore of Alaska.'"
Several evangelicals have called for policies that care for the environment, but many are still divided over global warming. Christianity Today's earlier coverage of global warming includes news articles and opinion pieces.
Posted by Sarah Pulliam Bailey at September 23, 2008 | Comments (8)
I'm finally in Minneapolis (the airline lost my luggage, but at least I have my laptop), and I'm catching up on the Sarah Palin developments.
Although I've seen thrilling remarks in the press releases from conservative evangelicals, Suzanne Sataline from the Wall Street Journal talked with one evangelical who is more cautious.
Richard Cizik, vice president of the National Association of Evangelicals, said he was initially stunned because he had never heard of the Alaskan governor.
"Do we have a Dan Quayle on our hands? I'm open to being persuaded otherwise if she proves herself," Cizik told Sataline.
"I like some of the personal choices she's made, such as carrying a Downs child to term,'' Cizik said, referring the governor's infant son who has Down Syndrome. "So will millions of evangelicals.''
Cizik has been an outspoken advocate for environmental issues, which drew heavy criticism from some conservative Christians, including Focus on the Family founder James Dobson. Cizik said he and other evangelicals need more information about Palin's views on the environment and global affairs.
"I don't think evangelicals are going to vote for this team for superficial partisan reasons. I think lots of people are looking beyond labels this time around,'' he said to the Journal. He told Sataline he hasn't decided how he will vote.
On the other hand, Dobson is pretty excited. Even though six months ago he planned not to vote for John McCain, he told Dennis Prager, "But I can tell you that if I had to go into the studio, I mean the voting booth today, I would pull that lever."
He said in a statement: "Sen. McCain's selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is an outstanding choice that should be extremely reassuring to the conservative base of his party. She is a strong executive who hates corruption and puts principle above politics. After floating the names of Tom Ridge and Sen. Joe Lieberman in recent weeks ? selections that would have created consternation among pro-family Republicans ? Sen. McCain has chosen a solid conservative who has a reputation for espousing common sense."
Posted by Sarah Pulliam Bailey at August 30, 2008 | Comments (6)
