Mike, good questions. I’m not sure, though, that in my particular case I “want” global warming to not be happening. It’s not that I don’t want change. Or because liberals believe in it. For example, on things like food policy, culture, way of life, I would have some overlap with liberals. I personally like much about urban culture, which is often shaped by progressives. So I’ve got a strong progressive side to me.

What I don’t like about the discussion is when something is forced upon me. In other words, the way supposed anthropogenic global warming has been presented by Gore and many others is as a fact of indubitable foundation. I don’t think it deserves anywhere near that tag. Yet the cognoscenti have baptized it as Truth.

So as a freethinker, when I see signs of cracks in the unassailable armor, mixed in with profiteering (Gore and other advocates, we can’t forget, have millions invested in alternative energy technologies), I’m inclined to think that the whole shebang fails the sniff test.

Under the Lordship of Christ and the clear direction of His Word, I want to be a freethinker, someone who doesn’t assume that something is true because an influential Christian like John Piper says it is so (though I love Piper) or, on the other hand, because the New York Times says it is so. I want to learn from men like Piper while gleaning wisdom and insight from cultural outlets like the NYT. Does that make sense?

Furthermore, I see all of this effort to think freely as an exercise in the glorification of God. I see it as the application of wisdom to my life (in the way that Proverbs calls for), as a way to conform my mind to Christ (Romans 12), and as an exercise in discernment, intellectual maturity, and general growth, for the glory of God (loving God with one’s mind, Mark 12:28-30).

What does this have to do with the atonement? The atonement births a new way of life in which we use every faculty available to us to bring glory to the Son who purchased us. This involves, surely, thinking hard about all things, testing them to see whether they are true, figuring things out, etc. It’s not that global warming has primacy–far from it. But just because it’s not the core of our lives, as the gospel of Christ is, doesn’t mean that we don’t think about it or wrestle with it.

Hope that all makes sense.

Is it because liberals believe in it?
Is it because scientists are generally Darwinian evolutionists?
Is it because Christians are often culturally conservative—leading them to not want change?

It seems to me that a faith in the atoning death of Jesus Christ to save sinners has very little to do with global warming, either pro or con—I’d love some input.