116 • CROSSCURRENTS lobal warming has received a spate of media and popular attention recent- ly. News clips and television programs tug at our hearts by showing polar bears stranded on plazas of ice, hopelessly peering at us as we helplessly peer back. And icebergs, millions of years old, are shown “calving” huge chunks of themselves into the warming waters tracing their shrinking contours. “Calving” has even become something of an entertainment spectacle and a tourist attrac- tion. I have heard about some cruise lines that entice customers with the prom- ise of witnessing the melting icebergs. Al Gore’s thoughtful documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, has also gener- ated an upsurge of global warming awareness. Gore’s movie was released in May 2006, ranked as the US's third highest grossing documentary in January 2007, and won an Oscar in February. Gore and his team have also collaborated with citizens from all around the country by providing them with basic train- ing to take a slide–show version of An Inconvenient Truth on the road, provid- ing occasions not only for information dissemination but genuine conversa- tion. And most recently, on February 2, the United Nations’ International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a document confirming that the fact of glob- al warming is “unequivocal” and that recent climate change is “very likely” G GLOBAL WARMING AND RELIGIOUS STICK FIGHTING Michael S. Hogue This essay is a modified version of a public lecture originally presented at the University of Chicago, 25 January 2007.