A major change may be under way as numerous prominent leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention criticized on Monday the denomination’s timid position regarding the human responsibility for global warming.

At least 46 important members of the denomination, including three of its last four presidents, said that Baptists have the moral responsibility to get involved in dealing with the climate change.

"Our cautious response to these issues in the face of mounting evidence may be seen by the world as uncaring, reckless and ill-informed. We can do better," the denomination’s statement said.

The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. Last year, its position regarding the global warming was very different from what numerous important members said today. Approximately one year ago, the Convention has urged Baptists to be cautious when the issue of “the human-induced global warming” is debated. The main idea of that resolution was that the global warming is not really a stringent problem and the fact that it would lead to catastrophic events is mainly human-induced and has no real scientific support.

However, on Monday, numerous important leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention showed that their point of view regarding the global warming issue went through a major change.

"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 group that came with the different point of view includes 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 vowed to take part in the fight against global warming "without any further lingering over the basic reality of the problem or our responsibility to address it.”

The initiative, “A Southern Baptist Declaration on the Environment and Climate Change,” was signed by the 44 members, including the current president.

“Humans must be proactive and take responsibility for our contributions to climate change - big and small," the statement posted on the Convention’s Web site said.

The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Baptist group in the world, the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. and the second largest grouping of Christians in the United States after the Roman Catholic Church. The SBC, a politically and theologically conservative group, has 16 million members a number that makes up for 7 percent of the U.S. adult population.