Have we underestimated evangelicals?

Maggie says:
The connection between evangelical beliefs and corresponding right-wing policy is pretty concrete. So is the notion that since evangelicals believe the end of the world is eminent, they don't feel environmmental regulations are necessary, since those could only prolong the end of the world. But a closer look at the environmental beliefs of envangelicals adds more dimension - and a possible rethinking - to what we thought we knew.

From the Center for American Progress: "Times have changed since James G. Watt, the conservative interior secretary under President Reagan, argued that the imminent return of Jesus made environmentalism unnecessary. 'God gave us these things to use. After the last tree is felled, Christ will come back,' Watt told Congress in 1981. These days, the Washington Post reports, evidence in polling and in public statements of church leaders shows that a 'growing number of evangelicals view stewardship of the environment as a responsibility mandated by God in the Bible.' Though evangelicals sometimes rely on different terms – 'creation care' instead of 'environmentalism' – and emphasize particular environmental ills – for example, the health effects of mercury pollution on developing fetuses – the basic progressive principles are the same. 'The environment is a values issue,' says the Rev. Ted Haggard, president of the 30 million-member National Association of Evangelicals, whose members will meet in March to develop a position on global warming."

The Greening of Evangelicals (login required) is the original article spotlighting this shift. It draws from the "Evangelical Call to Civic Responsibility" adopted in October, which states that "We affirm that God-given dominion is a sacred responsibility to steward the earth and not a license to abuse the creation of which we are a part. Because clean air, pure water, and adequate resources are crucial to public health and civic order, government has an obligation to protect its citizens from the effects of environmental degradation." This sounds pretty basic to us, but considering the end-of-the-world faction of their group, it's actually pretty revolutionary.

So we all know that evangelicals are pretty solidly Republican. And so far, there's not much to suggest that their newfound concern for the environment would sway their vote to the other side. But according to the Post, major environmental groups are studying "how to talk to evangelicals" to convince them to vote with their (slightly) green hearts. Given that there's a HUGE divide between hemp-wearing earth-lovers and cardigan-wearing church-lovers, could the gap be bridged? Are we seeing a new movement of environmentalism (or as the evangelicals prefer to call it - conservationism) being born?