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    Vatican Lists "New Sins," Including Pollution
    By Philip Pullella
    Reuters

    Monday 10 March 2008

    Vatican City - Thou shall not pollute the Earth. Thou shall beware genetic manipulation. Modern times bring with them modern sins. So the Vatican has told the faithful that they should be aware of "new" sins such as causing environmental blight.

    The guidance came at the weekend when Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti, the Vatican's number two man in the sometimes murky area of sins and penance, spoke of modern evils.

    Asked what he believed were today's "new sins," he told the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano that the greatest danger zone for the modern soul was the largely uncharted world of bioethics.

    "(Within bioethics) there are areas where we absolutely must denounce some violations of the fundamental rights of human nature through experiments and genetic manipulation whose outcome is difficult to predict and control," he said.

    The Vatican opposes stem cell research that involves destruction of embryos and has warned against the prospect of human cloning.

    Girotti, in an interview headlined "New Forms of Social Sin," also listed "ecological" offences as modern evils.

    In recent months, Pope Benedict has made several strong appeals for the protection of the environment, saying issues such as climate change had become gravely important for the entire human race.

    Under Benedict and his predecessor John Paul, the Vatican has become progressively "green."

    It has installed photovoltaic cells on buildings to produce electricity and hosted a scientific conference to discuss the ramifications of global warming and climate change, widely blamed on human use of fossil fuels.

    Girotti, who is number two in the Vatican "Apostolic Penitentiary," which deals with matter of conscience, also listed drug trafficking and social and economic injustices as modern sins.

    But Girotti also bemoaned that fewer and fewer Catholics go to confession at all.

    He pointed to a study by Milan's Catholic University that showed that up to 60 percent of Catholic faithful in Italy stopped going to confession.

    In the sacrament of Penance, Catholics confess their sins to a priest who absolves them in God's name.

    But the same study by the Catholic University showed that 30 percent of Italian Catholics believed that there was no need for a priest to be God's intermediary and 20 percent felt uncomfortable talking about their sins to another person.

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    Southern Baptists Back a Shift on Climate Change
    By Neela Banerjee
    The New York Times

    Monday 10 March 2008

    Signaling a significant departure from the Southern Baptist Convention's official stance on global warming, 44 Southern Baptist leaders have decided to back a declaration calling for more action on climate change, saying its previous position on the issue was "too timid."

    The largest denomination in the United States after the Roman Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist Convention, with more than 16 million members, is politically and theologically conservative.

    Yet its current president, the Rev. Frank Page, signed the initiative, "A Southern Baptist Declaration on the Environment and Climate Change." Two past presidents of the convention, the Rev. Jack Graham and the Rev. James Merritt, also signed.

    "We believe our current denominational engagement with these issues has often been too timid, failing to produce a unified moral voice," the church leaders wrote in their new declaration.

    A 2007 resolution passed by the convention hewed to a more skeptical view of global warming.

    In contrast, the new declaration, which will be released Monday, states, "Our cautious response to these issues in the face of mounting evidence may be seen by the world as uncaring, reckless and ill-informed."

    The document also urges ministers to preach more about the environment and for all Baptists to keep an open mind about considering environmental policy.

    Jonathan Merritt, the spokesman for the Southern Baptist Environment and Climate Initiative and a seminarian at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., said the declaration was a call to Christians to return to a biblical mandate to guard the world God created.

    The Southern Baptist signatories join a growing community of evangelicals pushing for more action among believers, industry and politicians. Experts on the Southern Baptist Convention noted the initiative marked the growing influence of younger leaders on the discussions in the Southern Baptist Convention.

    While those younger Baptists remain committed to fight abortion, for instance, the environment is now a top priority, too.

    "In no way do we intend to back away from sanctity of life," said the Rev. Dr. Timothy George, dean of Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Ala.

    Still, many powerful Southern Baptist leaders and agencies did not sign the declaration, including the convention's influential political arm, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.

    Dr. Barrett Duke, vice president for public policy at the commission, played down the differences between the declaration and the Southern Baptist Convention's position.

    The declaration says in fact that lack of scientific unanimity should not preclude "prudent action," which includes changing individual habits and giving "serious consideration to responsible policies that effectively address" global warming.

    The declaration is the outgrowth of soul-searching by Mr. Merritt, 25. The younger Mr. Merritt said that for years he had been "an enemy of the environment." Then, he said, he had an epiphany.

    "I learned that God reveals himself through Scripture and in general through his creation, and when we destroy God's creation, it's similar to ripping pages from the Bible," Mr. Merritt said.