Cornwall Alliance
Background information for reporters
The Cornwall Alliance (CA) is a fringe US evangelical Christian group that claims there is
no evidence that increased levels of greenhouses gases in the atmosphere will cause an
environmental problem.
The group, which does not disclose its funders, claims environmentalism is “one of the
greatest threats to society and the church today.” The group’s Evangelical Declaration
on Global Warming states: “There is no convincing scientific evidence that human
contribution to greenhouse gases is causing dangerous global warming.”
Though it portrays itself as independent, the CA is closely tied to the Committee for a
Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), who are also here in Rome promoting climate science
denial.
Funding
The CA is a project of the US’s “James Partnership” which does not disclose its funders.
In 2012, more than half of the James Partnership’s $340,0000 income came through a
“dark money” funding group known as Donors Trust (DT), which is exclusively and
explicitly tied to conservative donors who want to give anonymously to promote “free
enterprise” and low government regulation.
DT, which helps to hide the identity of donors, has been described as the “dark money
ATM” of the conservative right in the US. DT and its sister organisation Donors Capital
Fund (DCF) funnelled millions of dollars to groups that deny climate science or oppose
laws to cut fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions. Major contributors to DT and
DCF include foundations funded and controlled by the US oil billionaire Koch brothers,
who are major backers of the US Republican movement.
According to US tax records, about one quarter of the James Partnership’s income is
spent on the salary of Calvin Beisner, the founder and spokesperson for the Cornwall
Alliance, and who will be speaking in Rome.
Key members:
Calvin Beisner has a Ph.D in Scottish History, and is a former Professor of Social
Ethics at Knox Theological Seminary. Beisner is known as a “leading evangelical
climate-change skeptic”.
In 2012, Dr. Beisner claimed the modern environmental movement represents "the
greatest threat to Western civilization" because it combines "the utopian vision of
Marxism, the scientific facade of secular humanism, and the religious fanaticism of jihad"
into a pseudo-religion that undermines Christianity. Beisner claimed the 2012 tropical
storm Sandy, which killed more than 200 people and caused billions of dollars in
damages, was “perhaps judgement” from God.
In 2014, CA Scholar and advisory board member Dr Roy Spencer, of the University of
Alabama, called on people to use the term “global warming Nazis” to describe anyone
who uses the term “denier” to describe groups or people who deny the findings of large
amounts of scientific literature on climate change.
The CA’s “Evangelical Declaration on Global Warming” states: “We deny that Earth and
its ecosystems are the fragile and unstable products of chance, and particularly that
Earth’s climate system is vulnerable to dangerous alteration because of minuscule
changes in atmospheric chemistry.”
History

 In late 2005, US evangelical leaders like Rick Warren joined a drive to back a major
initiative to fight global warming, saying “millions of people could die in this century
because of climate change, most of them our poorest global neighbors.”
To counter this historic shift in the evangelical community, a group called the “Interfaith
Stewardship Alliance” (ISA) was launched to oppose action on carbon emissions and to
deny the existence of climate change. One of the men guiding this group was Paul
Driessen, a PR professional and consultant for ExxonMobil, the mining industry, and for
CFACT.
For “streamlining” reasons, ISA re-launched as the Cornwall Alliance in 2005. With the
new name came a redesigned website, highly produced web videos, and an organized
network of churches to distribute climate change denying propaganda to hundreds of
pastors around the country. CFACT President David Rothbard has been hailed as the
“driving force” behind the Cornwall Declaration public relations effort. Calvin Beisner sits
on CFACT’s Board of Advisors.
DeSmog Media Contacts:
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US: Brendan DeMelle brendan@desmogblog.com +01 206-295-4399