Religious and environmental groups gathered outside the White House on Tuesday to protest what they call the government's inaction toward climate change.

"This gathering today is to affirm that God has gifted us in many ways, one of which is a good mind to figure out how things are going," said Bob Coleman, chief programming minister of the Riverside Church in New York City.

Climate awareness has grown popular among some progressive religious group. According to some, even the skeptics in the group say that something strange is going on.

Given recent storms, hurricanes, heat waves and droughts, some members of the American clergy said human decisions that contribute to these extreme weather events can't be left in the hands of politicians anymore.

"We have to go beyond personal recycling and reducing and reusing of plastic and paper -- and the recycling of the same old politicians and policies," said Johari Abdul-Malik, imam of a mosque in Falls Church, Va. (Jada Smith, New York Times, Jan. 15). -- IP