When the "What Would Jesus Drive?" folks came to town recently, each of Detroit's Big Three automakers had a different response. This event was a quintessentially American phenomenon, so it's not surprising that Daimler Chrysler, now a German company, missed the mark by a mile and sent the religious leaders a form letter.

All-American General Motors knew they had to respond but reverted to form and sent one of their highly-titled bureaucrats to explain that company policy defines American values.

Ford got it right. Its iconic chairman, Bill Ford, met personally with the people of faith who sponsored this seminal event. Ford recognizes that since 18th century Puritans diapered infant America, religion has been a powerful driver of our national values.

It was people of faith who formed the backbone and provided moral leadership for 19th Century abolitionists, 20th Century civil rights movement and the more recent shift to a conservative White House, Congress and Judiciary. It will be our people of faith and the powerful institutions that represent them who tip the balance of power to a deeper environmental ethic in the United States.

Religious values are not the only ones that count with American consumers, but they weigh heavily in explaining historic cultural shifts. The auto industry's public relations experts are already abuzz, advising their bosses not to dismiss environmentalists in clerical collars or nuns driving hybrid-electric Toyotas, as impractical idealists, tree huggers or extremists.

The gap be-tween environmentalists and religious values has always been narrow. There is a strong spiritual component to most Americans' environmental values and the sense of stewardship is deeply imbedded in Judeo-Christian and Eastern theologies.

Americans of faith care. What they've lacked until now is a clear understanding of the links between their vehicle choices and their religious values. Now that scientists have so firmly established the links between cars, gasoline and global warming, big changes are at hand. If the story this science tells-that our profligate burning of gasoline and other fossil fuels poses life-threatening changes in global temperatures and climate-is repetitively proclaimed from the pulpits of America, watch out, Bob Lutz.

This is not yet a full-blown religious movement. But the tipping point could be near. Pat answers, such as "We're just giving customers what they want," will not long suffice. Nor will religious Americans accept Detroit's admonition to be patient for an unspecified number of years in order to be saved by undeveloped technologies.

We may never know what Jesus would have driven, but we'll be seeing a lot of believers driving cars that affirm their concern for life.