Q: Should Christians be involved in climate change policy?

A: While Christian leaders will encourage varying levels of involvement—from none to extreme involvement—getting involved in public policy on climate change is important if certain Christian values are going to be upheld.

Unlike many of my peers in the environmental community cheering the House’s passage of the American Clean Energy and Security Act, I was grieved. While the U.S. government has been slow to address the issue of reducing carbon emissions from a public policy standpoint, just passing any bill without thought for the consequences is dire. When political posturing is more important than the actual impact of a bill, everyone loses.

As a Christian, I am concerned about the environment, but I’m also concerned about the poor. This bill would force more jobs overseas as it will be increasingly more expensive to comply with the manufacturing guidelines. And who holds a large majority of manufacturing jobs in this country? The poor. Proponents of the bill point to the Congressional Budget Office projections that this bill will cost the average family $175 per year by the year 2020. However, that analysis is misleading at best since it doesn’t take into account many of the tougher restrictions don’t go into effect until after 2020. Other independent analysis has this bill pushing the average family of four’s energy bill up $6,800 a year by the year 2035. This will only create a larger class of poor people in the U.S. At the same time, it is the poor who suffer from environmental health problems and live in proximity to toxic areas more than anyone. In no uncertain terms can this fact be ignored either.

Undoubtedly, something should be done, but not at their expense of the poor, such as losing jobs and income that they don’t have. And it certainly shouldn’t be done if it is going to create more a large class of poor people in this country. Christians must urge their representatives and senators to write responsible public policy on climate change that addresses the issues without creating a bigger problem.