Speaking for the leaders of more than 25 Pennsylvania church organizations, the Rev. Dr. Thomas M. Johnson recently stated that "People of faith can no longer sit by while we destroy God’s good earth. We must educate, motivate and activate our congregations to ensure that global climate change be halted, and then reversed. People of faith have an obligation to act on their religious and spiritual responsibilities and help create the political consensus for our nation and all nations to be good stewards of the earth."

On another front, it has been widely reported that the Cleona School Board of Anneville, Pennsylvania, recently voted to ban books discussing global warming and other controversial topics, which is not precisely correct. For whatever reason, the board deferred to the wishes of one of the nine members about a relatively minor textbook intended to teach reading comprehension, and removed those ideas that offended her religious convictions.

Dr. Marsha Zehner, Superinten-dent of Schools in the district did not mask her irritation about this, telling Climate Science Forum that the teaching of science in their schools was not at issue. Like all Pennsylvania state schools, those in Anneville follow the state guidelines, which encourage schools to teach a balance of scientific theories

Contents   Home