Baptist World Alliance

Resolution 4 – Climate Change

31 July 2009

The General Council of the Baptist World Alliance meeting in Ede, the Netherlands, July 27-August 1, 2009;

Affirms the biblical teaching of respect for the Earth and everything in it, and the moral imperative to love one’s neighbors as oneself including those of future generations;

Notes that the United Nations Climate Change Conference scheduled for December 7-18, 2009, in Copenhagen, Denmark, will consider a new global climate treaty to set greenhouse gas emission reductions for industrialized and major developing countries, and adaption assistance for developing nations;

Confesses that many Baptists have not taken seriously the global environmental crisis resulting from ignorance, neglect, arrogance, and greed;

Desires to follow up the implications of the climate change resolution adopted at the Annual Gathering of the Baptist World Alliance in Prague, Czech Republic, in July 2008;

Calls upon national government bodies urgently to initiate climate change legislation which will strengthen the terms of the Copenhagen treaty;

Calls upon Baptist individuals, churches, unions and conventions to recognize the Copenhagen conference as a landmark event, to pray for and support efforts made there, and to make ecologically-appropriate lifestyle changes as a matter of Christian discipleship.

Source: http://www.bwanet.org/default.aspx?pid=1145