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WAKE FOREST, N.C. — Southeastern Seminary President Danny Akin is pleased with the environmental declaration that one of his seminary students crafted, along with others, from what the student learned in the classroom.

He just wishes more people would read it before voicing their disagreement.

“That document is well written and is an appropriate challenge to Southern Baptists to address the issues of creation and the environment. Those of us who affirm the Word of God should be at the forefront of this discussion,” Akin said in a recent interview.

“It is unconscionable for us to turn that area over to pantheists (those who worship nature) and liberal environmentalists. I don’t see this as a liberal/conservative statement at all but as a biblical/theological issue.

“Some Christians have a problem separating conservative theology from conservative politics,” he continued. “The two are not always the same.”

While he has no problem with the document, he has heard from plenty of those who do.

“To be honest, I’ve been very surprised at the over-reaction that has come out of this. Several people who were very critical of it have confronted me but when I pressed them on the question if they had read it, they had to admit that they hadn’t.”

Akin said that while some criticized the document as unnecessary and a possible contradiction of SBC resolutions passed in 2006 and 2007, he did not see any problems with the statement. In fact, he said the Merritt document builds upon the foundation of those resolutions and issues a call to arms for Southern Baptists to be good stewards of God’s creation.

“We who proclaim that we believe the Bible should be those who should be proactive on this and leading the charge,” he added.

The president said the document “strikes a very good balance between those who stick their heads in the sand and deny any concern for our handling of the environment and those who are alarmists.”

“It says to Southern Baptists to ‘get in the game, be wise, be prudent, and respond in an appropriate biblical fashion.’”

Long before the document was conceived, Southeastern was already responding in an “appropriate biblical fashion.” Its efforts to go green has already saved $250,000 by taking “some wise steps in water conservation and energy use and by planting appropriate trees and plants,” Akin stated.

The seminary has also saved more than one million gallons of water by changing out older toilets.

“You don’t have to do anything dramatic or showy to leave a smaller footprint on the environment. It’s a lot of the little things that you do that add up,” he said.

 

 

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