The Observer (11-24-02)
What would Jesus drive? A disciple carrier, of course
Ed Vulliamy, New York

'WHAT would Jesus drive?' It's a question of burning significance in Detroit - Motor City - this week, as a challenge to America's love affair with the gas-guzzling Sports Utility Vehicle, or SUV, comes from an unexpected quarter: America's religious leaders.

The slogan is an adaptation of one used for a moral education campaign in schools - 'What would Jesus do?' - now applied to vehicles that, say the Council of Churches and a number of other groups, damage God's planet.

Letters of protest were delivered to the gates of the two titans of the car industry last Wednesday by nuns from the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in a fleet of energy-efficient vehicles. Among the recipients was William Clay Ford Jnr, direct heir of Henry Ford; others were senior executives at General Motors and Chrysler. 'We are under commandment to be faithful stewards of God's creation,' said Paul Gorman of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment. The letter asks companies and drivers to consider what 'the risen Lord Jesus' would like them to drive. 'This is a crisis in God's creation at the hands of God's children,' he added.

Mr Gorman's zeal was targeted at members of the auto workers union (UAW) as well as the companies, he insisted. 'It's wrong to say that anyone is coming here to attack the automobile companies or the UAW. We have auto workers, conservationists and executives all kneeling together in the same pews. This is not a photo-op and a hit-and-run shot at anyone.'

The campaign was bump-started by a group formed in Pennsylvania - the Evangelical Environmental Network - by the Reverend Jim Ball, dovetailing into a popular protest against not only SUVs, but the ethos of the Bush administration, which has oil running through every vein, and advances ever-increased production to meet an ever-increasing demand.

'We're asking the basic question: what would Jesus drive?' says Ball, a Baptist minister. 'We think Jesus is Lord of our transportation choices, as well as our other choices. When you need a car, you should buy the most fuel-efficient one that truly meets your needs. We believe transportation is a moral issue because it and the pollution it creates have a serious impact on people's lives.'

Inspired by Ball's message, a national 'Interfaith Climate and Energy Campaign' was formed, with the backing of the Council of Churches and the leadership of the Jewish faith. Mailings and sermons were sent out this week to hundreds of thousands of pastors, priests and rabbis whose congregations will hear the message over the coming weeks. There will also be a series of TV commercials, showing Christ beside a clogged highway.

The campaign picked up an unexpected and vigorous endorsement from the conservative columnist Arianna Huffington, who said on television: 'This is all about oil. It's a no-brainer. Don't drive these things.'

Her remarks drew derision from viewers, who called in to say: 'If Europeans want to drive Mini Coopers, fine. That isn't America. We subsidise big oil, big autos and big sprawl.' And motorists' groups cast disdain on the churches' initiative this week. 'If people were demanding tailfins on cars, we'd be mak ing tailfins on cars,' said Eron Shosteck, of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. 'People want power, consumers want power.' But a Ford spokeswoman, Francine Romine, said: 'At the end of the day, we want the same thing. We want to improve the fuel economy of all our vehicles.' Ford has pledged to improve the economy of its SUV vehicles by 25 per cent by 2005.

General Motors, meanwhile, has been fighting back by courting religious conservatives with sponsorship of a Christian concert tour, to coincide with its re-launch of the TrailBlazer SUV series. The rightwing Christian Coalition has already fired back at Ball on its website home page, with a connecting article arguing that his fuel economy proposals would threaten road safety.

One company official said unattributably: 'If Jesus had been environmentally conscious, he would indeed have driven a people-mover, so that all his Apostles could have travelled with him in one vehicle, instead of at least three.'