Fw: Re: [asa] A Global warming skeptic to speak

Ooops...forgot to post this to the listserv...see my response below...

--- On Fri, 1/16/09, Christine Smith <christine_mb_smith@yahoo.com> wrote:

> From: Christine Smith <christine_mb_smith@yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [asa] A Global warming skeptic to speak
> To: "John Burgeson (ASA member)" <hossradbourne@gmail.com>
> Date: Friday, January 16, 2009, 12:34 PM
> Hi Burgy,
>
> You write: " I had not looked at the GW issues as
> being in any sense a "new religion."
>
> I have heard that before, mostly from skeptics, but I do
> think it is a valid criticism, at least for *some* people in
> the climate change camp. If you understand religion to be
> worldview or lens through which you see everything else, and
> particularly if you feel that climate change is the be
> all-end all issue in society (such that you are reduced to
> despair if its not being "appropriately"
> addressed), then I think in this way, climate change does
> become a "new religion". And in that sense, I find
> this to be a great cause for concern to Christians--and
> perhaps a great opportunity to show how Christianity can
> effectively counteract this despair.
>
> This is why whenever I speak to the issue in a public forum
> (such as this one), as much as I affirm the climate change
> science and the urgency with which I think the issue needs
> to be dealt with, I take care in the same breath to
> categorically denounce any hint that we should lose hope or
> faith over the issue, or that somehow other issues such as
> the economy or health care should be diminished. There must
> be a proper balance between our calling as creation
> stewards, as urgent as that calling may be, and our
> Christian hope and calling in other arenas.
>
> In Christ,
> Christine (ASA member)
>
> "For we walk by faith, not by sight" ~II
> Corinthians 5:7
>
> Help save the life of a homeless animal--visit
> www.azrescue.org to find out how.
>
> Recycling a single aluminum can conserves enough energy to
> power your TV for 3 hours--Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! Learn
> more at www.cleanup.org
>
>
> --- On Fri, 1/16/09, John Burgeson (ASA member)
> <hossradbourne@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > From: John Burgeson (ASA member)
> <hossradbourne@gmail.com>
> > Subject: [asa] A Global warming skeptic to speak
> > To: "asa@calvin.edu" <asa@calvin.edu>
> > Date: Friday, January 16, 2009, 9:01 AM
> > I rec'd the following from the net this morning.
> It
> > looks to be
> > another interesting conference of like-minded people.
> >
> > Aznar to Speak at Global Warming Conference
> > Spain's former PM rips alarmists' 'new
> > religion'
> >
> > Former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar--an
> > outspoken critic of
> > global warming alarmism as a "new
> religion"--will
> > be among 70 skeptics
> > who will confront the subject of global warming at the
> > second
> > International Conference on Climate Change in New York
> City
> > March
> > 8-10, 2009.
> >
> > Aznar, who as prime minister in 1998 signed the Kyoto
> > Protocol against
> > global warming in Spain's name, told an audience
> in
> > Paris in October,
> > "In these times of global cooling of the
> international
> > economy ... the
> > standard bearers of the climatic apocalypse demand
> hundreds
> > of
> > billions of euros" to combat global warming.
> >
> > The former chief executive doesn't deny global
> warming
> > exists in some
> > measure, but he questions the benefit of dedicating so
> much
> > money to
> > combat it while the world is in an economic crisis and
> > other more
> > pressing health problems face the world's
> population.
> >
> > "Many of the champions of the idea of climatic
> > apocalypse have little
> > or nothing to do with science," he said.
> "They
> > are something else. It
> > is more like a new religion that condemns to the
> public
> > bonfire those
> > who dare question their theses, forecasts, and
> > warnings."
> >
> > The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on
> Climate
> > Change has said
> > global warming is "unequivocal" and
> "most of
> > the observed increases in
> > temperatures over the last 60 years is very likely due
> to
> > increases in
> > human-generated greenhouse gas concentrations."
> >
> > However, the empirical evidence continues to mount in
> the
> > skeptics'
> > favor, and more than 1,000 attendees--including
> > private-sector
> > business people, state and federal legislators and
> > officials, policy
> > analysts, media, and students--are expected in New
> York in
> > March.
> >
> > I had not looked at the GW issues as being in any
> sense a
> > "new religion."
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Burgy
> >
> > www.burgy.50megs.com
> >
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> with
> > "unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of
> the
> > message.

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Received on Fri Jan 16 13:36:16 2009