It tells how polarizing and complex religion is when I wonder about tying religion to the environment, "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

It certainly should be a good thing. If you believe in God you believe that he created the planet, and therefore we should take care of it. Those espousing this view quote scripture to support the position that honoring earth is honoring God, and abusing the planet is going against its creator.

It has put them in opposition with some evangelical darlings. Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., is evangelical and also has proclaimed that global warming is a hoax. President Bush, who has served two terms with strong support from evangelicals, has refused to cap greenhouse gas emissions.

Evagelical Christians are a significant voting block, so politicians certainly will pay attention to their positions.

Religion addresses the spiritual nature and the afterlife. But it´s also a force for changing this life and world for all of us. Taking care of the environment is one of the most important issues we face. If religion can motivate people to improve the environment significantly, it accomplishes something wonderful.

But so often religion gets twisted into something destructive and negative. It repeatedly is the reason -- or excuse -- for going to war or to judge another group of people. The frequently self-righteous attitude of some evangelicals is a poor way to reach a solution in the real world. A religion-based environmental movement could create a backlash from people resenting attempts to change their behavior with God as the hammer.

I hope efforts by religious groups to work toward a better environment continues. But they can achieve the best results by keeping their motivations to themselves. The goal is to improve our ecology, and that should be the focal point.

And that should make everyone, including God, happy.

Allan Gerlat is editor of Waste News. Past installments of this column are collected in the Inbox archive.