Not the Internet. Not satellite television.

It's those monstrosities people are driving these days.

While the sport utility vehicle is advertised as a work vehicle, or an outdoor vehicle, too many people seem to be buying them as replacements for luxury cars.

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Canadians appear to be willing to go to great lengths to help the environment, but when it comes to shelling out $30,000 for an environmentally friendly vehicle, they put on the brakes.

The three cars that Environmental Defence Canada Thursday rated the "greenest" vehicles available in Canada are among the poorest-selling.

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A group called the Evangelical Environmental Network, based in Wynnewood, Pa., has produced TV ads with a provocative tag line: "If we love our neighbor, and we cherish God's creation, maybe we should ask, ‘What would Jesus drive?'"

The late-night comics went berserk, but Evangelicals take seriously the idea that Christ should be at the center of daily decisions. Says the Rev. Richard Cizik, a conservative minister and registered Republican: "I'm not on an anti-suv campaign … But we are for fuel efficiency and pollution reductions. If Evangelical Christians cannot be for that, I think they're missing the full sense of how the Gospel touches every point of their lives."

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As the nation gears up for a possible war with oil-rich Iraq and President Bush touts hydrogen fuel cell technology, GM promises to build by 2007 hybrid versions of more than a dozen of its best-selling cars, SUVs and pickup trucks.

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In America, one of the best ways to gauge what we collectively value is through what we buy. We value convenience, so we get a fast food restaurant on every corner. We value thrift, so we get Wal-Marts setting up shop across the country hawking cut-rate merchandise. And we value size and power, so we get a proliferation of SUVs cruising the highways. We didn't arrive at this point all of a sudden -- it is the summation of a multitude of individual choices, all made over time as each consumer makes a decision about what they want and what to buy. In turn, those choices help determine how our collective values are perceived by the companies that sell stuff to us, and we soon end up with the world we've got.

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Encased in a massive black Toyota Land Cruiser, Shirley Collenette admits feeling a little guilty about her gas-guzzling, smog-inducing, planet-warming, road-hogging "armor," as she calls her sport utility vehicle.

But need is stronger than guilt.

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Feedback from readers on Washington Post's site

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In recent years, the ubiquitous four letters WWJD have asked "What would Jesus do?" A recent ad campaign, however, has changed that to ask "What would Jesus drive?"

The ad raises the general question of what role faith plays in taking care of the environment.

Locally, ministers agreed that a careful balance between taking good care of the earth and using the resources given for use seemed to be the most appropriate action.

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You bought your SUV, thinking it would give you room for the kids, the dog and the carpool. You could see above traffic, and with terror lurking under every manhole cover, its massive bulk and off-road résumé made you feel safe. But now, you find your ridestyle choice under attack.

Story includes a poll and lots of SUV facts.

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The popularity of SUVs has increased steadily over the past decade. They now comprise up to 25 percent of total U.S. vehicle sales, depending on whether so-called crossover models are included. Yet in recent months, SUVs have been the target of attacks notable for their variety and fervor.

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Sport-utility vehicles have fattened auto companies' profits and ridden an economic boom into millions of suburban garages. But now, pressures from society, government and the auto industry itself are growing so strong that Detroit is starting to take its first big steps away from reliance on the traditional, huge SUV.

Anti-SUV crusaders now span an unlikely spectrum. The Sierra Club argues that SUVs contribute to global warming. A religious group protests that Jesus wouldn't drive an SUV. Conservative columnist Arianna Huffington recently launched television ads tying SUVs to terrorism.

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It's not civic duty that leads Norman Camp and Ed Milligan to yank tires, beer cans and old sofas from a stretch of Walnut Creek that flows behind St. Ambrose Episcopal Church in Southeast Raleigh. It's a religious duty.

"To me, it's a very basic fundamental call as a Christian," said Milligan, a member of Prince of Peace Episcopal Church in Apex. "If you say that what we see on this Earth was divinely created and given to us, it's only right that we take care of it."

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