The fight against climate change received an unexpected boost yesterday when 86 evangelical Christian leaders in American backed a major initiative to fight climate change.  A statement they released said: “millions of people could die in this century because of climate change, most of them our poorest global neighbors.”

The statement continued: “For most of us, until recently this has not been treated as a pressing issue or major priority. Indeed, many of us have required considerable convincing before becoming persuaded that climate change is a real problem and that it ought to matter to us as Christians. But now we have seen and heard enough.”

Nothing is ever simple though: 22 other evangelical leaders have tried to derail the initiative, arguing “Global warming is not a consensus issue.”  This second group have obviously been talking to our friends at Exxon or the Competitive Enterprise Institute.