Marvin Olasky, editor-in-chief of World Magazine wrote a provocative essay on Christians and global warming policy this week.  Here are a few excerpts:

Remember Psalm 24? Verse 1: The eart this the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein. Verse 2: The godly who dwell therein should embrace a global-warming pollution tax and acap-and-trade approach designed to reduce CO2 emissions by over 50 percent. Verse 3: The Panama Canal is America’s, for America founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.

I’ve made up verses two and three to suggest that both the left and right have problems when they argue that all evangelicals should support the specific policy prescriptions that their leaders think are best.

It’s … a large leap to go from the general principle of stewardship to specificity about particular emission controls. Pastors, called to preach and teach what the Bible proclaims, rarely have the expertise to announce with authority which solutions to particular environmental problems are best.

I mention all this because leaders of the mellifluously named Evangelical Climate Initiative are now looking for evangelical leaders to sign a new statement calling for mandatory, federally imposed targets and timetables aimed at bring about specific reductions in carbon dioxide emissions.

Isn’t it time to agree not to underuse or overuse the Bible to fit partiuclar policy agendas? Ofthen the bible is clear: It’s fine, combining “you shall not murder” and “you knitted me together in my mother’s womb,” to preach against abortion - but even then pastors should not be proclaiming which set of pro-life tactics will be the most effective. It’s not fine to combine Psalm 24 and … nothing, so as to demand that all Christians support specific environmental or foreign policy proposals.