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May 15, 2008 – (Washington, D.C.) A national coalition of pastors, Christian leaders, and policy makers announced the launch today of the “We Get It!” campaign aimed at enlisting one million Christians on a new, historic statement on environment and poverty. The campaign, which has been endorsed by Dr. James Dobson, U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, Rev. Dr. James Tonkowich, historian David Barton, singer Pat Boone, as well as a growing host of national and state organizations, calls on Christians to add their name at www.WeGetIt.org.

According to U.S. Senator James Inhofe, “The ‘We Get It!’ declaration speaks for me, and I believe it speaks for the vast majority of evangelicals, who are as tired as I am of being misrepresented by people who don’t bother to get their theology, their science, or their economics right. Consequently, they put millions of the world’s poor at risk by promoting policies to fight the alleged problem of global warming that will slow economic development, and condemn the poor to more generations of grinding poverty and high rates of disease and early death.”

Dr. Richard Land, President of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, noted, “A recent Barna poll showed that less than one-third of evangelicals, far fewer than non-evangelicals, believe that global warming is a major problem. You wouldn’t know that from the news headlines. It’s time to set the record straight, and the ‘We Get It!’ campaign is just what’s needed. It has a high view of man, a Biblical view of stewardship, and a responsible regard for the needs of the poor.”

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, agreed. “The ‘We Get It!’ campaign makes it clear that we cannot justify policies that make food and energy more expensive on the grounds that we’re fighting against an environmental threat that is at best speculative.”

Dr. E. Calvin Beisner, national spokesman for the Cornwall Alliance, added, “Christians must care for the environment and the poor, but our stewardship must be based on Biblical principles and factual evidence. Christians, by and large, don’t buy the hype surrounding global warming – that it’s catastrophic, human-induced, and requires drastic government intervention. We must be particularly careful as these issues can have a devastating effect on the poor.”

More statements and endorsements can be found at http://www.WeGetIt.org/press.

The “We Get It!” campaign is beginning a national outreach to pastors and people in the pews, African American and Hispanic church leaders, youth, artists, home-schoolers, evangelical scientists, Congressional and state policy-makers, and other Christian leaders. National partners include the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, the Family Research Council, WallBuilders, the Institute on Religion and Democracy, the Cornwall Alliance, and the Acton Institute.Read

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