God & Country

Selling the Climate Change Bill in Indiana: A Franciscan Sister

June 26, 2009 RSS Feed Print

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

How do you pressure congressional fence sitters from Indiana and North Dakota to support the climate change bill that's expected to come up for a vote in the House today? Make it about churches and the armed services.

"The energy bill before Congress creates jobs, reduces dependence on foreign oil, and protects God's creation," says a pro-energy-bill ad by the Democrat-allied American Values Network now running in North Dakota. "That's why a huge coalition of churches and military leaders support it." (Listen to the ad here.)

In Indiana, the progressive group Catholics United has enlisted a Franciscan sister in a radio spot encouraging Democratic Rep. Joe Donnelly to support the climate change bill.

"This is Sister Sharon Dillon, and I'm a Franciscan from South Bend," the ad begins. " . . . .Together, we can create a healthier and more prosperous world. For me, it's not about partisan politics. It's about values and families, human dignity and the common good." Full ad here.

I'll be watching to see how the two reps targeted cast their votes.

Tags:
global warming,
energy policy and climate change,
religion

Reader Comments Read all comments (6)

Add Your Thoughts
Your comment will be posted immediately, unless it is spam or contains profanity. For more information, please see our Comments FAQ.

These people live in la-la land. Or the twilight zone.

Black smoke filling the sky?

And Rob, you must have missed the conservative reaction to Gingrich's commercial with Pelosi. I'm willing to bet he won't be doing that again.

Obama..." Under my plan, electricity rates would necessarily sky-rocket.." Come down out of your reverie, libs. This will hurt everyone, not just the rich YOU are always demonizing.

Climate change is happening. Scientists have proven beyond a shadow of any doubt it is happening...and has been for MILLIONS OF YEARS.

Where has common sense gone, and when will it be back? We are living through a nightmare of utopian wishful thinking, and they think Christians are bad!!

Donna of TX 10:38PM June 29, 2009

I'm not supporting just dumping garbage everywhere for fun what I am saying is that I don't think we should go back to the horse and carriage to "save the planet".

Besides the fact that this cap and trade bill does not cut carbon emissions but simply taxes the end users ie you and me, even if we cut our carbon footprint as the human race we account for very little of total carbon emissions. The biggest contributor is in fact nature itself. So I guess we better pull the plug and drain the oceans huh?

Marc Zimmerstien of ID 6:15PM June 26, 2009

"Wake up you liberals! Ask yourselves this, If global warming were real then why did they change the name of it to climate change???"

because wacko conservatives have demonized the term "global warming".

The politics are insane in this issue. All because of Al Gore. If it had been Gingrich standing up to make the world a little cleaner, all the conservatives would be chanting it and all the liberals would find a flaw. You partisans are ridiculous.

Who cares if the earth is getting warmer or not? Don't you just want a nicer place to live? Anyone driving through California can tell you how bad the effects of the combustion engine are.

Personally, I'm not a Gore fan AT ALL or a fan of the stylized manipulated fight for the environment, but there IS a genuine cause here. Less garbage and pollution is a GOOD THING. There is nothing you can do to tell me otherwise. Why shouldn't we be looking for a way to drive and have industry without black smoke filling the sky?

Screw Al Gore, let's just try and make a cleaner place to live. Take care of our planet...its a rare gift.

rob of CA 3:09PM June 26, 2009

God & Country

U.S. News Weekly

Subscribe Now!

Order the new U.S. News Weekly digital magazine at a special low introductory price!

Dan Gilgoff covers religion for U.S. News & World Report. He is the author of The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America are Winning the Culture War, and is a former politics editor at beliefnet. E-mail Dan at godandcountry@usnews.com.

Is increasing access to healthcare a moral or faith-based cause?

View Results

BLOG ROLL

Follow Dan Gilgoff on: Facebook | Twitter | MySpace

Photo Gallery

Faith Photo of the Day

See what's going on in the faith world across the globe every day.

SPECIAL REPORTS

Secrets of Islam

A guide to the world's fastest growing religion.

Sacred Places

Explore the significance, history, and enduring power of places people consider most sacred.

Women of the Bible

The "daughters of Eve" play many roles in the Old and New Testaments.