Below is a snapshot of the principal voices in the evangelical debate on global warming. The argument is between those who see climate change as a crisis requiring immediate, drastic action and those who acknowledge the phenomenon but dispute its causes and question its seriousness; a third group opposes any debate at all.

What do you think: Does religion have an obligation to address climate change? Vote in our poll to the right of this article then leave us your comments in this message board thread.

Call in the green cavalry, the time to act is now

Leith Anderson, President, National Association of Evangelicals
The senior pastor of a megachurch in Eden Prairie, Minn., Anderson assumed the reins of the NAE, the nation's largest evangelical organization, when his predecessor resigned amid scandal in 2006. While not the most vocal participant in the evangelical debate on climate change, Anderson nonetheless wields considerable influence because of his position. His decision to endorse the Evangelical Climate Initiative on behalf of the NAE was seen as a blow to Christian social conservatives who believe the global warming debate is antithetical to the evangelical movement's goals. Anderson also is the radio voice of  "Faith Matters," which is heard on Christian stations across the United States.

Jim Ball, president and CEO of the Evangelical Environmental Network
After receiving a doctorate in theological ethics from Drew University in New Jersey, Ball published a Christian primer on the subject of global warming in 1998 for Evangelicals for Social Action. He became executive director of EEN in 2000. Under his leadership the group created the  "What Would Jesus Drive?" educational campaign in 2002 and played a lead role in the formulation of the Evangelical Climate Initiative in 2006. Ball also has worked as climate change policy coordinator for the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington, D.C. He is an active member of Riverside Baptist Church in Washington.

Richard Cizik, vice president, National Association of Evangelicals
As vice president of governmental affairs for the NAE, Cizik has been an outspoken advocate of urgent action to address global warming. Evangelicals should "return to being people known for our love and care of the earth and our fellow human beings," says Cizik, who travels the U.S. spreading the doctrine of "creation care," a Bible-based understanding of why Christians have a duty to be environmental stewards. His activism has made him the target of social conservatives, more than two dozen of whom in early 2007 sent a letter to the NAE board urging that Cizik either be muzzled or fired. Cizik remains steadfast in his earth evangelizing: "There are still plenty who wonder, does advocating this agenda mean we have to become liberal weirdoes?" he says. "And I say to them, certainly not. It's in the scripture. Read the Bible."

Rev. Joel Hunter, Senior Pastor, Northland Church
The head of a megachurch outside of Orlando, Fla., and a board member of the National Association of Evangelicals, Hunter has become a prominent voice for religion-based environmental stewardship. He was one of 86 evangelical Christian leaders to sign the Evangelical Climate Initiative, and then early in 2007 joined 27 other religious and scientific leaders in endorsing "An Urgent Call to Action" on climate change that was sent to President Bush and leaders of Congress. Tapped late in 2006 to head the Christian Coalition of America, Hunter declined because of disagreements over whether the group's priorities should be expanded to include global warming and poverty.

The cure for climate change is the real threat

E. Calvin Beisner, national spokesman, Cornwall Alliance
A professor of social ethics at Knox Theological Seminary in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Beisner played a lead role in formation of the Cornwall Alliance and its predecessor, the Interfaith Stewardship Alliance, which asserted man's role as a steward of the environment rather than as a co-equal creation. Beisner is a co-author (with Paul Driessen, Ross McKitrick and Roy W. Spencer) of the Cornwall Alliance's response to the Evangelical Climate Initiative, "A Call to Truth, Prudence, and Protection of the Poor: An Evangelical Response to Global Warming." The document argues that attempts to reduce carbon emissions actually would hurt the world's poor more than it would help them. Beisner is also the author of  Where Garden Meets Wilderness: Evangelical Entry Into the Environmental Debate.

Paul Driessen, senior policy adviser, Congress of Racial Equality
The author of Eco-Imperialism: Green Power, Black Death, Driessen argues that those who advocate strong action to curb global warming perpetuate poverty and disease throughout the world by denying the poor access to things such as electricity that would improve their lives. Moreover, he says, the Kyoto Accord could cost 1.3 million jobs in America's black and Hispanic communities in 2012, the year it would go into effect. The consequences of higher-cost, less-accessible energy in the undeveloped world, where 2 billion people still do without electricity, would be far more dire, he says.

Ross McKitrick, professor of economics, University of Guelph, Canada
An environmental economist, McKitrick is known as an expert on climate change and environmental policy issues. He is co-author of  Taken By Storm: Troubled Science, Policy and Politics of Global Warming, which takes dead, skeptical aim at the science of climate modeling and the politics that underlie claims of global warming.

Roy W. Spencer, principal research scientist, University of Alabama, Huntsville
A former senior scientist for climate studies at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Spencer has provided much of the science upon which the Cornwall Alliance bases its call for a moderate, go-slow response to climate change. Spencer, frequently in the public eye because of his writings and speeches, argues that a lack of global temperature data prior to 1950 makes comparison of current and past climate cycles, and the modeling of future ones, extremely difficult if not impossible. He further asserts that man's contribution through the burning of fossil fuels to the natural greenhouse effect is minimal.

A debate not worth having

James C. Dobson & Co.
Dobson, head of Focus on the Family, is at the forefront of a group of Christian social conservatives -- among them Gary Bauer, Coalitions for America; Don Wildmon, American Family Association; and Tony Perkins, Family Research Council -- who don't participate in the climate change debate so much as attempt to stanch it. It was members of this evangelical wing who complained to the NAE board about Richard Cizik, and who see global warming as an inherently "liberal" issue that can only divert attention from more pressing social concerns such as abortion and homosexuality.

What do you think: Does religion have an obligation to address climate change? Vote in our poll to the right of this article then leave us your comments in this message board thread.

Philipp Harper is a free-lance writer based in south Georgia