Yesterday (5/15), a coalition of political and religious conservatives introduced the “We Get It” campaign. Among the enlightened one finds the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the Family Research Council, and U.S. Senator James Inhofe, one of the most strident critics of global warming. What they “get” is that “the science is not settled.”
I wrote in an earlier article that skepticism about global warming is not necessarily a bad thing, insofar as it indicates a willingness to ask questions, evaluate evidence, and form an independent conclusion. But the “We Get It” campaign is not about skepticism. It’s about a settled position: global warming is scientifically “unproven.” They repeat the claim that scientists have not reached a conclusion on global climate change, a claim that does not pass the laugh test with this professional scientist.
The assertion that working scientists have not reached a consensus about the fact of global warming and mankind’s role is functionally equivalent to the claim that scientists have not reached a consensus on whether cigarettes cause cancer. After all, there are scientists working for the tobacco companies whose “research” fails to establish such a link.
I’ll have more on the “We Get It” campaign later, if time allows. in meantime, some links:
- Mainstream Baptist: Between Southern Baptists and Bill McKibben
- Melissa Rogers: The Rollout of “We Get It”
- Ethics Daily: Christian Right Leaders Push Back Against Concern for Global Warming
- New! Mainstream Baptist: NASA on Human Caused Climate Change
- New! Brian Kaylor: They Don’t Get It!
HT: Melissa Rogers
