On Monday, leaders in the Southern Baptist church captured the attention of Christians and non-Christians alike when they signed a declaration entreating Christians to become more active in preventing global climate change. It called their denomination’s previous environmental activities “too timid” and accused them of “failing to produce a unified moral voice.”

Signatories include current Southern Baptist president Frank Page and former presidents James Merritt and Jack Graham. The resolution admitted that leaders needed “considerable convincing before becoming persuaded that these are real problems that deserve our attention. But now we have seen and heard enough to be persuaded that these issues are among the current era’s challenges that require a unified voice.”

Baptists like Daniel Akin, the president of Southeastern Seminary, are excited about the proactive approach: “I see it as building on what Southern Baptists have said in previous statements and position papers.” The statement is not an official resolution and the SBC’s 2007 position on global warming remains unchanged. This resolution acknowledged much “conflicting scientific evidence” surrounding the issue of climate change and supported “the development of environmental public policy that will improve the stewardship of the earth’s resources.”

The man behind Monday’s statement is 25-year-old Jonathan Merritt (son of signer James Merritt), who says he first became concerned with the problem of climate change when a professor of his compared destroying creation to “tearing a page out of the Bible.” He is one of a growing number of young evangelicals closing the gap between “religious right” and “evangelical center.”

As more Christians become active in social and environmental issues, the priority shift could benefit presidential candidate John McCain, who has taken a positive stance toward “common sense” strategies to lower carbon emissions.