Read the executive summary
Download the full document (pdf)
April 17, 2008 (Washington, D.C.) – The Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation released its highly anticipated policy agenda on a special 45-minute press call this morning in which it highlighted such stewardship issues as “poverty and development” and “climate and energy.”
Dr. E. Calvin Beisner, National Spokesman for the Cornwall Alliance and General Editor of the Agenda, Dr. Stephen Livesay, President of Bryan College and Co-Chair of the Agenda, and Dr. Barrett Duke, Vice President of Governmental Affairs for the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission and Co-Chair of the Agenda conducted a press call in which they discussed the details of the groundbreaking document.
“God calls us to steward creation, but currently much environmental advocacy and activism contradict sound theology and sound science. In response to this, a diverse task force representing a wide range of the theological, scientific and economic disciplines has been brought together to craft the Cornwall Stewardship Agenda,” states Dr. Beisner. He adds, “This Agenda is designed to flesh out the broad principles of the 2000 Cornwall Declaration on Environmental Stewardship (endorsed by over 1,500 clergy, religious leaders, and other people of faith), and answer the practical question of what public-policy principles religious leaders and policymakers should support in their desire to achieve Biblically balanced stewardship.”
The Agenda states that “environmental policies should harness human creative potential by expanding political and economic freedom, instead of imposing draconian restrictions or seeking to reduce the “human burden” on the natural world. Suppressing human liberty and productivity in the name of environmental protection is antithetical to the principles of stewardship and counterproductive to the environment.”
Adding to the thought, Dr. Livesay comments that, “Cornwall supporters believe the best way to care for both people AND the planet is through policies that allow increasing numbers of people around the world to fulfill their role as stewards of God’s good creation.”
When addressing environmental problems, Dr. Duke states, “We should respond first to firmly established risks in ways that are cost-effective and have proven benefit. Prudent stewardship will avoid siren calls to action on speculative problems that are based on politicized science or media-driven hype, focusing instead on well-understood and well-argued evidence.”
The Cornwall Alliance has emerged as one of the most prominent voices in America and internationally on issues of religion and environment. Its spokesmen have been featured or quoted in publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, the Christian Science Monitor, Christianity Today, WORLD magazine, and hundreds of others; they have appeared regularly on television and radio programs nationally and around the world; and they have been asked to provide testimony and expert opinion to the U.S. Senate, the Vatican, and a host of academic, theological, and denominational meetings. A coalition of clergy, theologians, religious leaders, scientists, academics, policy experts, and others, the Cornwall Alliance is committed to bringing a balanced biblical view of stewardship to the critical issues of environment and development.
Read the executive summary
Download the full document (pdf)
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