Introduction

Liberal environmentalists have long been at odds with the Bush administration on issues ranging from greenhouse gas emissions to mercury pollution. But now, in addition to those voices on the left side of the political spectrum, the president is also hearing murmurs of discontent on his right flank. The grumbles are coming from a new religious environmental movement that has begun to frame issues such as global warming as matters of scriptural conscience. Its ranks include evangelical Protestants -- key Bush voters -- along with many Catholics and Jews. The green gospel they are preaching may hold the potential to reshape political coalitions on certain issues and break longstanding logjams that have kept important environmental legislation from moving forward on Capitol Hill. Indeed, just as a rift opened up in the Democratic Party in the 1990s over trade issues, there are early signs that such a rift may now be opening in the Republican Party coalition between religious environmentalists and hard-line free marketeers who reflexively view environmental laws as threats to economic growth.

"The environment is a values issue," the Rev. Ted Haggard, president of the 30 million-member National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), told The Washington Post in February. "There are significant and compelling theological reasons why it should be a banner issue for the Christian right." Last fall, the NAE issued a broad Evangelical Call to Civic Responsibility that included the Biblical argument for environmental protection. Citing Genesis 2:15, it said, "We affirm that God-given dominion is a sacred responsibility to steward the earth and not a license to abuse the creation of which we are a part." As a broad public policy matter, the NAE continued, "This implies the principle of sustainability: our uses of the earth must be designed to conserve and renew the earth rather than to deplete or destroy it." And it offered a specific agenda: "We urge government to encourage fuel efficiency, reduce pollution, encourage sustainable use of natural resources, and provide for the proper care of wildlife and their natural habitats."

The issue of global warming has been a particularly fraught topic. President Bush has called on industry to voluntarily reduce emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the most prevalent gas implicated in global climate change. But an alliance of religious groups pressed the U.S. Senate last year to go further and pass legislation that would formally regulate CO2 and other greenhouse gases. Richard Cizik, NAE's chief lobbyist and a self-described "Bush Republican," told The Wall Street Journal at the time, "I disagree with the president on this one." Christianity Today, an influential evangelical magazine, also weighed in on the subject, writing: "Christians should make it clear to governments and businesses that we are willing to adapt our lifestyles and support steps towards changes that protect our environment." To underscore their commitment to doing something about climate change, Christianity Today editors endorsed a bill, sponsored by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.), that would impose the first-ever legal limits on greenhouse gases. The Bush administration has thus far opposed the bill, arguing that enforceable greenhouse gas limits would cost too much.