( CNN ) -- Several prominent leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention said Monday that Baptists have a moral responsibility to combat climate change -- a major shift within a denomination that just last year cast doubt on human responsibility for global warming . `` We can do better '' in responding to climate change , some members of the Southern Baptist Convention say . Forty-six influential members of the Southern Baptist Convention , including three of its past four presidents , criticized their denomination in a statement Monday for being `` too timid '' in confronting global warming . `` Our cautious response to these issues in the face of mounting evidence may be seen by the world as uncaring , reckless and ill-informed , '' the statement says . `` We can do better . '' The Southern Baptist Convention , the largest Protestant denomination in the United States , adopted a resolution last year urging Baptists to `` proceed cautiously in the human-induced global warming debate in light of conflicting scientific research . '' The resolution said `` many scientists reject the idea of catastrophic human-induced global warming . '' On Monday , however , dozens of Southern Baptist leaders expressed a different view . `` There is general agreement among those engaged with this issue in the scientific community , '' their statement says . `` A minority of sincere and respected scientists offer alternate causes for global climate change other than deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels . '' The signatories pledged to do their part to fight global warming `` without any further lingering over the basic reality of the problem or our responsibility to address it . Humans must be proactive and take responsibility for our contributions to climate change -- big and small . '' The signatories include Frank Page , president of the Southern Baptist Convention since 2006 ; James Merritt , president of the convention from 2000 to 2002 and Jack Graham , president of the convention from 2002 to 2004 . The group posted the statement on its Web site . The signers of `` A Southern Baptist Declaration on the Environment and Climate Change '' acknowledged that some of them were skeptics at first . `` Some of us have required considerable convincing before becoming persuaded that these are real problems that deserve our attention , '' the statement says . `` 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 moral voice . '' The Southern Baptist Convention 's 16 million members make up roughly 7 percent of the U.S. adult population , according to the convention and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life . The competing and evolving views on climate change within the Southern Baptist Convention mirror a debate that has played out among members of the theologically like-minded National Association of Evangelicals , an umbrella group that represents about 30 million people in 45,000 church congregations , including many Baptist congregations . Its Washington policy director , the Rev . Richard Cizik , has pressed for years for more action to combat climate change , saying in a recent documentary that `` to harm this world by environmental degradation is an offense against God . '' His advocacy raised eyebrows given that global warming sometimes conjured `` impressions in people 's minds of being liberal , democratic , left wing , big government , tied to population control , all these kinds of things , '' Cizik told CNN last year . Several conservative evangelicals signed a letter in 2007 urging the association to rein in Cizik or encourage him to resign . The signers included James Dobson of Focus on the Family and Gary Bauer , a former presidential candidate and president of American Values . `` We have observed that Cizik and others are using the global warming controversy to shift the emphasis away from the great moral issues of our time , notably the sanctity of human life , the integrity of marriage and the teaching of sexual abstinence and morality to our children , '' their letter said . `` The issue ( global warming ) should be addressed scientifically and not theologically . '' E-mail to a friend .
Southern Baptist leaders : People have biblical duty to stop global warming . 46 leaders denounce denomination for being too timid on environmental issues . Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S .