The environgelicals.

Byline: The Register-Guard

President Bush has yet to encounter a call for action on global warming that he hasn't been able to dismiss, ignore or have edited. He may have a harder time turning a deaf ear to a plea by 86 evangelical Christian leaders for legislation to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Evangelical Christians traditionally have had a close relationship with Republicans and, in particular, President Bush. They represent a critical segment of the president's political base.

Yet it's the heartfelt core message of the Christian leaders, more than their political clout, that should spur the president and Congress into action. They emphasized that they were acting not merely out of a general sense of stewardship for the Earth as God's creation, but out of urgent concern for the "poorest of the poor." For it is the poor who will be most affected by diseases, disasters and a host of other changes linked to global warming. And it is the poor who have the least resources to cope with these changes.

Bush may find it easy to brush aside pleas from statistics-spouting economists or chart-waving climatologists. It will be harder for him to ignore an exhortation to remember that "Christians must care about climate change because we are called to love our neighbors, to do unto others as we would have them do unto us, and to protect and care for the least of these as though each was Jesus Christ Himself."

The signers included some impressive notables - megachurch pastors, Christian college presidents, religious broadcasters and writers such as Rick Warren, author of the best-selling "The Purpose-Driven Life."

In addition to making a powerful moral case for action, the evangelicals took note of the broad scientific consensus on global warming. The statement took particular note of the prestigious Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, whose chairman, Sir John Houghton, happens to be a devout evangelical Christian.

While the evangelicals didn't endorse any specific course of action, they called for "national legislation requiring sufficient economy-wide reductions in carbon dioxide emissions through cost-effective market-based mechanism such as a cap-and-trade program."

That's a good description of the Climate Stewardship Act, sponsored by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., which would require that U.S. emissions return to their 2000 levels by 2010.

Evangelicals have an excellent track record of getting the president's attention on issues ranging from sex trafficking to the AIDS epidemic in Africa to the Darfur genocide. Now they are attempting to accomplish what scientists, economists, business leaders and others have so far failed to do - persuade the president and Congress that the time has come to act, and act forcefully, on global warming.

Some of those who joined in last week's statement practice what is called "the gift of tongues." Such a gift may well be needed to communicate the urgent need for action to a president who has done everything possible to avoid it.