Some 30 key evangelical leaders met in Maryland for a two-day invitation-only conference on protecting the environment, the Los Angeles Times Reported on July 4.

According to the report, the participants represented “a cross section of mainstream evangelicalism in America” that included well-known figures from the National Association of Evangelicals, World Vision and Fuller seminary.

At the meeting, the attendees followed the lead of ecumenical groups that have already declared the protection of the environment an integral part of the Christian faith. The group “has agreed to work for faith-based environmental activism among the nation's most conservative Christians,” the article stated.

The decision to promote greater environmental awareness comes amid several religious poll results that found evangelical Christians to be among the groups that are least likely to recycle.

The Rev. Jim Ball, executive director of the Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN), which hosted the meeting, said that as evangelicals speak to politicians, the point they will make is that "caring for God's creation is part of being a Christian."

The main mission statement of the EEN specifies that the network should “declare the Lordship of Christ over all creation.” On the EEN website, the ministry state its strong belief that "environmental problems are fundamentally spiritual problems that need to be addressed," and that "biblical faith is essential to the solution of our ecological problems."