Considering a Cool Congregation

There is a church here in town that goes by the name, The Cool Church. I’m not talking about that today. Maybe some other day. But today I am tired and distracted, so this may not go in a good direction …

I’m talking about when the climate change agenda takes root in the church.

Note the wind turbine in the place of the cross.

I got a letter from a different local church today inviting us to their Cool Congregations Workshop. It is sponsored by the church’s Green Team. Yes, they have a “green team” to help them become better stewards of creation. I’m all for good stewardship, but this needs a whole team?

They are bringing the crowd from the Arizona Interfaith Power and Light down from Tempe to discuss a religious response to climate change.

Here is the agenda:

• Address the ABC’s of climate change
• Explore how climate change is a moral and spiritual issue
• Measure your own carbon footprint and find ways to reduce it
• Learn about The Other Side of the Meter: Local, state and federal policies on energy and climate change
• Discover how to organize a Cool Congregations program in your own congregation

Before I continue, will they address opposing viewpoints on this matter? Will they discuss whether or not this is a normal fluctuation in the climate? Will they be honest about the minimal influence humanity has on this that means it really isn’t a moral and spiritual issue? Stewardship and conservation are good. Saving energy is a good thing. I am not for waste. But they just don’t seem to recognize the political and social agenda at work here. Or how you can’t reduce your carbon footprint enough to “save the earth”.  Enjoy 30 Days to Environmental Stupidity.

Okay, here is what you get if you go:

• Cool Congregations Manual
• Resource CD
• Cool Congregations Carbon Calculator designed specifically for Arizona

When you register you’ll get a checklist to determine your household energy use. This way you can feel more false guilt and fall into the environmental prison from which you must buy environmental indulgences.

This is another distraction from the purpose of the church. In case you aren’t sure what that is, it is the Great Commission.