Making sacrifices

I appreciate your column on brinksmanship in the April 30 issue. I, too, believe the nation needs to get busy fixing the environment before it is too late, regardless of the causes and politics.

I’ve noticed that some, perhaps many, of the more fundamental Christians are opposed to protecting the environment — an attitude completely beyond my understanding.

I suspect there is a fear that we would have to rein in our wasteful consumption of energy and would have to lower our standard of living (most likely true). However, it seems appropriate that Christians should be willing to make such sacrifices for the “general good” and for our children’s future world.

Sometimes I feel that we Baptists cloister ourselves inside our “comfortable” churches, Sunday School classes, Bible studies and pat ourselves on the back for knowing our Bible verses and for being so religious. And through all that, we can fail to see what is going on in the wider world beyond our social circle. Religion is meaningless when not carried from the church and applied in our family, job, neighborhood, national and international relationships.

Jack Ferguson
Vestavia Hills, Ala.