CAFE OR SALOME?:

Holy rolling: Environmentally conscious seek a sanctified ride (EMERY P. DALESIO, Nov. 13, 2002, Associated Press)

New car buyers in North Carolina and three other states are soon to hear a call to conscience among the low-interest finance offers and year-end sales: What would Jesus drive?

The Wynnewood, Pa.-based Evangelical Environmental Network will begin running television ads this month in Charlotte and Greensboro - as well as six other cities in Iowa, Indiana and Missouri--to urge consumers to park their sport-utility vehicles and buy fuel-efficient cars because Jesus wants the Earth's natural systems preserved.

"Economic issues are moral issues. There really isn't a decision in your life that isn't a moral choice," the Rev. Jim Ball, executive director of the group behind the "What Would Jesus Drive?" campaign. [...]

Guessing which rig would meet Jesus' approval should be a serious consideration for conservative Christians, who are called to preserve the created world, Ball said. Global warming and smoggy air worsened by vehicle exhausts threaten the health of humans, plants and animals worldwide, he said in an interview as he rode a commuter train from his Washington, D.C., office to his Maryland home 55 miles away.

"We think he is Lord of our transportation choices as well as all our other choices," said Ball, an ordained American Baptist minister. "When you need a new car, you should buy the most fuel-efficient one that truly meets your needs."

I'm not willing to venture a guess as to how the Lord feels about CAFE standards, but this much I feel fairly sure of, He would rather have a human driver live than die when they hit a deer or a moose. This is a very real concern these days. Use new alloys and stronger plastics to make bigger cars that still get good gas mileage and we'll buy them, or come up with new ways of powering the vehicles altogether, but
trading your head (a moose coming through the windshield tends to decapitate the driver) for a few mpg seems like a deal that even John the Baptist would have blanched at.
Posted by Orrin Judd at November 14, 2002 4:50 PM