The eCrozier

On “Black Friday,” when much of our nation was either out shopping or recovering from a Thanksgiving eating stupor (me), our government released the 4th National Climate Assessment. This report, produced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as the administrative lead agency, drew upon the expertise of over 300 people from “federal, state, and local governments, tribes and Indigenous communities, national laboratories, universities, and the private sector.” They all “volunteered their time” to produce the assessment. A summary of this comprehensive, expert-driven report concludes that “climate change creates new risks and exacerbates existing vulnerabilities in communities across the United States, presenting growing challenges to human health and safety, quality of life, and the rate of economic growth.”

And yet, some of our elected officials responded to the report by saying: “I don’t believe it.” Such a response can only be described as “willful idiocy.” Let me explain. People can surely debate the causes of climate change, whether it’s driven by human-made causes or part of a long-term cycle of climate variation. While there’s significant evidence that human activity, particularly the burning of carbon, is the prime cause of climate change, the evidence isn’t overwhelmingly conclusive. But to deny that climate change is happening all together isn’t a matter of “belief.” It’s been observed and measured by the best scientific minds of this generation, so anyone’s “belief” about it is moot. It just is.

This flight to subjectivity is part of a larger cultural trend. Many people now wish to relegate facts to the realm of belief where one then can choose to believe them or not (don’t get me started on the “Flat Earth Society,” which I promise you is a real group with real people who “believe” it). To be sure, some things must remain as unprovable and thus be a part of someone’s belief (or not). For example, the Christian faith isn’t provable by scientific means. It’s a matter of faith (or belief, if you will). The Bible most often uses the Greek word πιστισ to define this. It literally means “trust.” Christians “trust” that the Good News of Jesus is true based on the biblical witness, the tradition of saintly testimony for over 2000 years, and our reason derived from human experience. And believe me when I tell you, I trust the Good News of Jesus. I’ve staked my life on it!

Even though trusting in the Good News of Jesus requires belief we can’t prove, it doesn’t make it more or less true than any other conviction we may hold that requires belief. For example, people should believe that supporting the Cincinnati Reds with their baseball love is the right thing to do. The evidence, however, doesn’t prove the Reds are the best baseball team out there (as much as I hate to admit this, the Red Sox are). The evidence says I should believe the Red Sox are the best, but I don’t because I’m devoted to my Reds. As the Preacher of Ecclesiastes would say: “This, too, is folly.” The main difference in this baseball analogy is that I know it’s folly. It’s a matter of the heart and it won’t hurt anyone. The scientific fact of climate change isn’t such a matter. Saying one doesn’t believe it is akin to saying one doesn’t believe in a mostly-rounded earth. It’s willful idiocy. It’s folly. And the consequences of such folly will lead to greater suffering for all the inhabitants of God’s good earth.

+Scott