Evangelicals Push Back Against Climate Change as a 'Hoax'

A group of evangelicals, comprised of scientists, economists and theologians, called the mainstream view of pending catastrophe caused by climate change a "hoax" at an event Thursday just days ahead of a key U.N.-sponsored climate change conference in Copenhagen.

The evangelical scholars argued that science, contrary to what many leading scientists claim, does not support the claim that increased CO2 in the atmosphere is having a negative effect on the earth. Rather, no one currently really understands clearly how the earth is responding to the increase in the greenhouse gas, they say.

"There seems to be a misunderstanding about science," said Dr. Roy Spencer, climatologist and principal research scientist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Ala., at The Heritage Foundation-hosted event.

Spencer said there are two parts to science: measurements and interpretation of the measurements.

"I think people think that science is as simple as making measurements," Spencer said. "[But] believe it or not most scientists - probably all the scientists I know that work in climate change - do have religious views about the earth and how fragile it is and that colors their research and how they interpret data."

He pointed to the recent leaked e-mails by the world's top climate scientists that suggest they have manipulated data to support their claim of the threat of global warming. Spencer said he believes those scientists did so because they are "true believers" that the earth is fragile.

"These scientists are absolutely convinced that we are destroying the environment," Spencer said, "that mankind has caused all the global warming that we have seen...They believe it is serious and the way they look at it - all data, all measurements, there are errors in the data - is that all the errors in the data are not showing the warning."

He continued, "So it is reasonable to analyze the data in ways that maximize the warning signal. I'm thinking this is the way they are thinking and that it's okay in their eyes. I think they are blinded by their worldview, which is global warming is due to mankind."

The evangelical climatologist says he has been researching the earth's feedbacks to increased CO2 in the atmosphere - which he calls the "biggest missing piece" in the climate change puzzle - for the past few years.

He agrees that CO2, a greenhouse gas, is increasing in the atmosphere and that it is largely due to human activities. The question, however, is how is the climate system responding to the little increase in warming. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, he noted, agrees the direct warming from the greenhouse gases is small. The difference is how big an impact is the warming having on the climate system.

Based on his research so far, Spencer said there will be some warming because of increased CO2 but he thinks the impact on the climate will be small.

"I don't think anyone has any clue on how much quantitatively that warming is going to be until we understand feedbacks," he said.

But he noted that when he did see clear feedbacks it has always been "very negative."

In other words, if the feedbacks we've been getting are the kind that will continue over the next few decades, then we have nothing to worry about, Spencer said. "It also means most of the warming that we have seen in the last 50 to 100 years is mostly natural."