America’s Leading Voice of Faith on Stewardship Issues Announces New Initiative to Expose Serious Dangers of “Green Dragon” Environmentalism; Says “The Time is Now to Stand and Resist“

(April 20, 2010, Washington, DC) – While environmentalists focus on Earth Day celebrations and public policy debates and initiatives, the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation is announcing a new initiative, “Resisting the Green Dragon,” that will sound the alarm about dangerous environmental extremism and bring a Biblical viewpoint on environmental issues and creation stewardship to evangelical churches, ministries, and schools.

The Cornwall Alliance asserts that one of the greatest threats to society and the church today is the multifaceted environmentalist movement. There isn’t an aspect of life that it doesn’t seek to force into its own mold.

“Environmentalism has become a new religion,” says Cornwall Alliance National Spokesman Dr. E. Calvin Beisner. “Its policies are devastating to the world’s poor. It threatens the sanctity of human life. It targets our youth. And its vision is global.”

“Today’s environmentalism isn’t just the conservationist belief that every generation should use the Earth wisely so that it benefits not only itself but also future generations,” Dr. Beisner said. “Environmentalism isn’t a neutral set of ideas that can be tacked onto the Christian faith without theological compromise. Instead, environmentalism promotes its own world view and its own doctrines of God, creation, humanity, sin, and salvation. And those doctrines aren’t Biblical.”

The Resisting the Green Dragon initiative includes a book by South African evangelical physicist Dr. James Wanliss; a 12-part DVD series with an impressive array of speakers who have expertise in science, theology, economics, and the environment and are respected by the evangelical community; and discussion guides, practical suggestions for small group projects, and other printed and broadcast resources.

The initiative takes its cue from James 4:7, “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Resisting the Green Dragon is a major, innovative education initiative that helps churches, schools, and other ministries to understand the difference between a Biblical definition of creation stewardship and both the secular environmental movement and its pagan religious counterpart. Both are making inroads into the evangelical community.

“It’s important that churches ‘test all things, hold fast what is good,’ as the Apostle Paul put it,” says Dr. Beisner. “Some of what goes under the name of ‘creation care,’ even in evangelical circles, is infected by the false world view and theology of secular and pagan religious environmentalism.”
Even when evangelical “creation care” is not theologically at fault, it often uncritically accepts claims of crisis that aren’t well supported by science, or offers solutions that out to be more harmful than beneficial.

Why did the Cornwall Alliance choose the week of Earth Day to announce its bold and aggressive Resisting the Green Dragon initiative? In the lead-up to the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, environmental activists are pushing their un-biblical message to evangelicals. For several years liberal churches have been doing such things as “carbon fasting,” observing “carbon lent,” and making other efforts to make the church relevant on Earth Day. Now groups on the evangelical “left” are working to bring a “Green Gospel” into churches.

Since 2005, the Cornwall Alliance has warned evangelicals of this concerted, well-funded effort to infiltrate churches. The Resisting the Green Dragon initiative provides evangelical churches with Biblically accurate resources on creation stewardship. The mask needs to be taken off of groups that call themselves Christian but spread a false environmental world view.

“Popular speaker Matthew Sleeth,” Dr. Beisner points out, “forces an environmentalist interpretation on the words of Jesus. Jesus said, ‘Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, . . . yet God feeds them.’ Jesus’ own interpretation is, ‘How much more valuable you are than the birds!’ (Luke 12:24). But Sleeth insists that a ‘more important way of looking at it . . . is, “How can we understand the depth of God’s love for us if we can’t understand how much God loves a bird?”‘ When a man calls his own interpretation of Christ’s words more important than Christ’s, that’s a warning sign that some other agenda, not fidelity to Scripture or to Christ, is in the driver’s seat.”

Resisting the Green Dragon from Cornwall Alliance on Vimeo.

The Resisting the Green Dragon initiative teaches how the Bible powerfully confronts environmental fears and how – in God’s wise design – people and nature can thrive together. The powerful 12-part DVD series (with a leader’s guide containing discussion questions and suggested practical applications suitable for churches, Sunday schools, families, classrooms, and small groups) covers fascinating topics such as The False World View of the Green Movement; Rescuing People from the Cult of the Green Dragon; Logos vs. Mysticism: Environmentalism’s Flight from Reason; How “Going Green” Impoverishes You, Your Church, and Your Society; Threats to Liberty and the Move Toward a Global Government; A Biblical Guide to Genuine Creation Stewardship; and many more.

Online: www.ResistingtheGreenDragon.com

The Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation is a network of clergy, theologians, religious leaders, scientists, economists, and policy experts committed to bringing a balanced Biblical view of stewardship to the critical issues of environment and development.

Since 2005, the Cornwall Alliance has been the leading evangelical voice on environmental stewardship and development. Over 500 people-including hundreds of pastors, theologians, college presidents, policy experts, and other leaders-have signed An Evangelical Declaration on Global Warming (http://www.CornwallAlliance.org/evangelical-declaration).