"The Evangelical Climate Initiative is of enormous importance and could be a tipping point in the climate change debate, according to one secular environmental leader I talked to. But of even wider importance, these events signal a sea change in evangelical Christian politics: The Religious Right is losing control. They have now lost control on the environmental issue - caring for God's creation is now a mainstream evangelical issue, especially for a new generation of evangelicals. But now so is sex trafficking, the genocide in Darfur, the pandemic of HIV/AIDS and, of course, global and domestic poverty. The call to overcome extreme poverty abroad and at home, in the world's richest nation, is becoming a new altar call around the world - a principal way Christians are deciding to put their faith into practice."

A good comment from Jim Wallis, founder of Sojourners. Evangelicalism in the US is sometimes beset by a strong internal political structure which serves to muzzle theological and ethical debate. Unless, for example, one adheres to a strict view of inerrancy, one may be labelled and branded in such a way that academic posts and publishing opportunities are restricted. This is unfortunate. Too narrow a view of Scripture has in many cases produced a narrow theology, and a narrow ethics. Salvation is individualised and internalised, and made too eschatological. Now salvation does apply to the individual and their inner relation with God which will culminate in eternal life in the hereafter. Absolutely. But to limit salvation to this is to brutally reduce the witness of Scripture. To be saved is to be caught up into the grand drama of God the creator and redeemer, who created all the world and all humanity (in the wholeness of their being), who sent his son to redeem all the world and all humanity (in the wholeness of their being), and who by the Spirit is actively working toward this end in and through his people, and even beyond these boundaries.