(CNSNews.com) - Evangelical pastors, scientists and policymakers held a press conference on Thursday at the National Press Club to launch a petition drive they hope will spread the truth about global warming: That Christians should be good stewards of God's creation and that government policies and regulations based on "faulty science" will hurt people who should be helped.

"The 'We Get It' declaration speaks for me, and I believe it speaks for the vast majority of evangelicals, who are as tired as I am of being misrepresented by people who don't bother to get their theology, their science or their economics right," said Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.).

"Consequently, they put millions of the world's poor at risk by promoting policies to fight the alleged problem of global warming that will slow economic development and condemn the poor to more generations of grinding poverty and high rates of disease and early death."

The campaign hopes to gather 1 million signatures on its Web site, supporting the declaration that says God created the world and men and women, who as Christians have to take responsibility for that creation; that billions of people will suffer if careless environmental policies are put in place; and that Christians as a group need to take action to help the poor and protect the planet based on biblical truths, not political correctness.

"We want real science so we can get real answers, not supercilious answers built on political platforms," said radio talk show host Janet Parshall, who introduced the campaign and speakers.

"We want them to be answers that, number one, are biblical; number two, are sound in economics and three, don't break the back of God's creation," Parshall said.

The campaign hopes to bring together 1 million Christians, who she described as "those who love Jesus Christ with all their heart and long to serve Him."

A large coalition of religious groups and leaders has signed on to the campaign, including Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.

"The Family Research Council is proud to support the 'We Get It' campaign because we do get it," Perkins said. "You can be green without being gullible."

Perkins said everyone involved in the campaign shares the desire to have a clean environment, clean air and clean water -- but that future generations deserve more than that.

"I'm afraid that the image that my children will remember is the image of naive Americans who surrendered our national sovereignty and the income of families to pursue science that is speculative at best," he added.

David Legates, associate professor of climatology at the University of Delaware, said scientists are anything but unanimous on the global warming phenomenon and its causes.

"What bothers me a lot is when I see everyone say the science is settled and all scientists agree," Legates told reporters. "If you've ever been to a scientific meeting you know scientists generally agree on almost nothing, particularly something as complicated as climate and as varied and intricate as it is."

In fact, Legates said, "A lot of scientists are starting to speak out, many hundreds of scientists are saying 'Wait a minute, what we are seeing as a consensus ... really isn't a consensus; that there is uncertainty and there is disagreement."

Legates said water, not carbon dioxide, is thought to be the most important greenhouse gas that scientists need to focus on.

Bishop Harry Jackson, founder of the High Impact Leadership Coalition and senior pastor of Hope Christian Church in Prince Georges County, Md., said he considers the discussion and decisions made about the environment to be critical to society.

"This issue of environment in general is the next major civil rights war," Jackson said. "The advocacy for the poor is the challenge, and no one seems to be speaking for them."

Others speaking at the press conference were E. Calvin Beisner, national spokesman for the Cornwall Alliance, Barrett Duke, vice president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, the Rev. Dr. James Tonkowich, president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy and the Rev. Ralph Weitz, stewardship pastor at Immanuel Bible Church in Alexandria, Va.

Make media inquiries or request an interview about this article.



E-mail a comment or news tip to Penny Starr