Reverend Asks, What Would Jesus Drive?

Aug. 13, 2001 — -- What would Jesus drive?

It's an unusual question, admits the Rev. Dan Smith, who carried a sign with the eye-catching challenge at an anti-SUV rally outside an auto dealership in the spring.

"Many Christians have this phrase that is meaningful for them, 'What would Jesus do?'" says Smith, an associate minister at Hancock United Church of Christ in Lexington, Mass.

"It's something that I think is provocative. So my intention was to be provocative. Hopefully it would make people think before making this decision."

He says his parishioners have been receptive.

"I haven't heard any negative feedback," he notes.

Smith is part of a steadily growing convergence of religion and environmentalism in America.

Moving Into the Religious Mainstream

Many spiritual leaders say that environmental issues are receiving more attention than ever among their colleagues and congregations.

"I've been watching this for 10 or 12 years, and suddenly this year it's as if this has come alive," says Bill McKibbon, a fellow at Harvard Divinity School's Center for the Study of Values in Public Life, and author of The End of Nature.

"I think a lot more people of faith are involved in this now," agrees Kim Winchell, a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America and the director of the Michigan Interfaith Coalition for Creation, an environmental group.

Some involved in religious environmentalism are politically active, writing letters to the president and protesting outside the Department of Energy. Others are preaching the message of conservation to their parishioners or installing solar panels on their churches.

In recent months, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops has passed a resolution calling on the United States to address climate change, and a broad coalition of mainstream religious groups, including the African Methodist Episcopal Church, American Baptist Churches USA and others, issued a call for energy conservation and "climate justice."

"These are not just the usual suspects," insists the Rev. Fred Small of First Church Unitarian in Littleton, Mass. He says the movement has spread well beyond traditionally liberal religious denominations.