The Baptist Doofus of the Day Award

And with a kind and irenic spirit, we here at www.thebigdaddyweave.com nominate David Hankins, Executive-Director of the Louisiana Baptist Convention, for this prestigious award.

Over at Baptist Press, David Hankins responds to the signers of The Southern Baptist Declaration on the Environment and Climate Change with this piece of drivel.

But here is the pertinent passage that qualifies Hankins to be the recipient of the Baptist Doofus Award:

Should Southern Baptists be more engaged with environmental issues? Any issue presented for action by the convention ought to pass at least two tests:

1) Is it a real and pressing problem? Is it right to shout "fire" in a crowded theatre? Only if there really is a fire. Otherwise, raising the alarm is the only real danger. Is climate change more important than, say, world hunger and economic stability in the third world?

I award David Hankins with the Baptist Doofus of the Day Award because only a doofus would imply that issues such as climate change and world hunger are not directly related. If one takes world hunger seriously, how can climate change be ignored? Changes in the climate cause droughts, floods and ultimately a decrease in the food supply. That's basic stuff that even 5th graders know, Jeff Foxworthy included!

Here's a passage from Southern Baptist ethicist David Gushee's new book that I recently read which relates directly to David Hankins odd belief that the issues of Climate Change and World Hunger can somehow be separated from one another:

World Vision in recent years has turned its attention to environmental issues, including global warming. In December 2006, David Schieman, U.S> director of World Vision's Africa programs declared, "World Vision's experience in field operations in Africa points to climate change as a major factor in reducing crops and livestock herds. Every farmer we talk to says there is either not enough rain, or it's very erratic, or both. They can't feed their families anymore and the situation is getting worse. Ten years ago that kind of concern {economic preservation} was associated with tree huggers,' but now we are all thinking much more in these terms and looking at ways to protect the land, trees and vegetation."

The conservative evangelical compassion ministry - World Vision - seems to even understand something that the highest ranking Baptist official in Louisiana does not. Environmental issues and Hunger issues are connected at the hip. We can't ignore one for the other. Baptists have to tackle both.