Terra Dei Institute for Environmental Policy is a virtual institute whose purpose is to create a platform for better conversations about God’s earth and to increase the involvement and capacity of Christian leaders to engage these debates. Terra Dei seeks to advance prudent and effective public policies on energy and the environment--in the context of traditional conservative principles and Christian values.

We believe, from our perspective as Christians heavily involved in environmental education and advocacy, that there must be major changes in the framing and formulation of environmental policy in this country, or it will not enjoy the success necessary to protect God’s creation in a timely way. While there are good people and organizations working to rally Christians and to provide faith-based perspectives on environmental policy, more should be done to bring the insights of theological and political conservatives to bear on the issues.

The institute will provide research and resource development that will include a lecture series, publishing, and briefings with opinion leaders, and materials and resources on energy, climate, economics, and security for use in educating Christian leaders and in outreach to policy-makers.

We grieve that some Christians have erected a pseudo-spiritual barrier to authentic consideration of Christian responsibility to care for God’s creation, of the connection between creation care and other ministries of the church, and of the need for serious government involvement in environmental solutions.

We also are concerned about the development of environmental policies that ignore basic conservative insights on human flourishing. We will make no progress in correcting these blind spots if the environmental conversation is dominated by those on the left. We intend to correct that problem.

Finally we believe that policies that are developed and advanced by only one party will not be politically sustainable. We believe that successful environmental policy in this country, particularly on climate change, requires bi-partisan and interfaith support, and must include diverse philosophical approaches to governing. Policies built on narrow majorities can be too easily undermined by political shifts, to the detriment of the economy.