Today's Question What is the number one backcountry skill people should learn? answer 
Today's Question What are the greenest colleges? answer 
Online FavoritesSpecial Issues
Photo Galleries |
Earth Shakers: The Counter-Enviro Power List Jerry Falwell: Founder, the Liberty Alliance By Amanda Griscom Little
A Lynchburg, Virginia–based Baptist minister and televangelist who in 1979 helped found the Moral Majority, a group that dramatically infused fundamentalist religious values into American politics, Falwell, 71, remains one of the most influential leaders on the Christian right. Through regular appearances on Fox, CNN, and MSNBC, as well as on his own Liberty Channel, Falwell is a tireless political spokesman who downplays environmental ills, dismisses man-made global warming as "a myth," and promotes the literal application of biblical precepts to the use of natural resources. In this, he's representative of a huge number of conservative Christians who take their cue from the Book of Genesis and believe—as codified in a 2000 manifesto called "A Faith Community Commitment to the Environment and our Children's Future," which Falwell signed—that God created plants, oceans, and the beasts of the earth "all for the use of man." Falwell's long view may not lend itself to careful stewardship, either. Like many fundamentalists, he believes the planet is heading toward a violent apocalypse that will precede a last judgment by God—a view that also drives the hugely popular Left Behind novels written by Jerry B. Jenkins and one of Falwell's fellow Moral Majority principals, Tim LaHaye. Environmentalists worry that such thinking fosters lax attitudes about earthly issues like global warming and resource conservation. SOUND BITE: Falwell has dismissed global warming forecasts as propaganda "created to destroy America's free enterprise system and our economic stability... I urge everyone to go out and buy an SUV today." NEXT UP: Not all Christians march to the same drummer. In March, the powerful National Association of Evangelicals—a group with 30 million members from 52 denominations—began a push to convince Washington policymakers that global warming is a threat, setting up a clash between Falwell's view and this emerging faith-based consensus.
|
Resort Finderadvertisement
 
 
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
More From Outside Online
Outside Exclusives
Ask the Experts
Outside Features
Outside Photo Galleries
Top Gear
- Climbing Gear Reviews
- Mountain Bike Reviews
- Ski Gear Reviews
- Sleeping Bag Reviews
- Trail Runner Reviews
Personalities & Profiles
Outside Blogs
Outside Classics
- Home |
- Travel |
- Gear |
- Bodywork |
- Culture |
- Videos |
- Ski |
- Photos |
- Archives |
- Feedback |
- RSS Feeds |
- Subscribe to Outside Magazine
©1994-2009 Mariah Media Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction of material from any pages without written permission is strictly prohibited.
Reproduction of material from any pages without written permission is strictly prohibited.