Baptist World Alliance Resolution 4 – Climate Change 31 July 2009 The General Council of the Baptist World Alliance meeting in Ede, the Netherlands, July 27-August 1, 2009; Affirms the biblical teaching of respect for the Earth and everything in it, and the moral imperative to love one’s neighbors as oneself including those of future generations; Notes that the United Nations Climate Change Conference scheduled for December 7-18, 2009, in Copenhagen, Denmark, will consider a new global climate treaty to set greenhouse gas emission reductions for industrialized and major developing countries, and adaption assistance for developing nations; Confesses that many Baptists have not taken seriously the global environmental crisis resulting from ignorance, neglect, arrogance, and greed; Desires to follow up the implications of the climate change resolution adopted at the Annual Gathering of the Baptist World Alliance in Prague, Czech Republic, in July 2008; Calls upon national government bodies urgently to initiate climate change legislation which will strengthen the terms of the Copenhagen treaty; Calls upon Baptist individuals, churches, unions and conventions to recognize the Copenhagen conference as a landmark event, to pray for and support efforts made there, and to make ecologically-appropriate lifestyle changes as a matter of Christian discipleship.
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