wfn.org | WCC FEATURE: Climate change: a dose of reality

["WCC Media" <Media@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches - Feature

Contact: + 41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org

>For immediate release - 16/12/2009 14:18:22

>GETTING A DOSE OF REALITY ON CLIMATE CHANGE

By Mark Beach (*)

Free photos and audio recordings available, see below

Why should religious people be involved in the climate change
debate? And how should religious people, particularly Christians,
view themselves in relation to the earth and God, the creator of
the earth?

These two questions were part of three presentations at a 90
minute "side event" called "Renew the face of Earth: Faith-based
approaches to climate justice," held Monday, 14 December during
the United Nations climate change negotiations, CPO 15, currently
underway in the massive Bella Centre in Copenhagen, Denmark.

"We know the problem," Joy Kennedy, a member of the World
Council of Churches (WCC) Working Group on Climate Change and the
United Church of Canada, said at the event organized by the WCC
and Caritas Internationalis. 

Kennedy offered the first presentation in the faith-based side
event. In her talk she carved out the moral issue of climate
change to the more than 140 people who packed the meeting room to
standing room only.

When it comes to climate change, the world’s citizens are
recognizing the problem, Kennedy said. "There is imminent danger,
the threat is real and people are suffering already because of
climate change and at its root climate change is a profound moral
issue."

The question for Kennedy was one of understanding who people are
in relation to the earth and God the creator of earth. "Simply
put, as we truly believe we are in our hearts, so we act." 

"And if we believe the planet is just a natural resource bank,
there to be exploited, excavated, extracted, dumped on, then we
will treat it that way. But if we believe we are part of a sacred
creation dependent on its gifts for our very survival and for
life, then human activity requires responsibility and we will act
differently because we love and serve and protect our home." 

Kennedy said there is a need for some global housekeeping. The
church needs to move from a theology of dominance, where for the
sake of climate justice "we need to find ways to replace greed
with an economy of enough." 

In order to change that way we think, Kennedy said, there is
need for confession, repentance and restitution. "We have a bad
habit, a belief in a theology of dominance that humans rule over
the earth. Well, I have to tell you, sisters and brothers, it is
past time that we confess that."

In exchange for the theology of dominance, Kennedy said, a
theology of humility is needed. And now more than ever there is a
need for making ethical and moral choices that benefit the whole
creation, she added.

>The problem is not with the poor but the rich

Following Kennedy, Fr Erny Gillen, president of Caritas Europa,
laid out the moral foundation for why religious people should be
involved in the debate around climate change.

"Not because we have better solutions to a technical problem"
and "not because we are to impose our views on other believers or
non-believers," he said. He continued by saying the involvement
of religious people was not because "we are simply a part of
civil society" or "we would have access to extra-terrestrial
wisdom or knowledge."

But because "religious people share the human condition and we
share this human condition with all other people living on
earth," he concluded.

Echoing Kennedy, Gillen said, "climate becomes a focus that says
we can no longer deny we belong to something larger. Today we
have become so strong and powerful that we are able to threaten
our natural house."

The moral framework for discussions about climate change and
climate justice for Gillen would include human dignity as a core
principle, solidarity, the common good or sustainability and
preference toward the poor.

"It is time we have the guts to name the problem. It is not sex,
not money, not the poor. It is the rich," Gillen said.

"Let’s make poverty history, but shouldn’t we say let’s make
richness history, let’s make greed history."

>Reality check

Still all of this theological thinking required some
on-the-ground thinking. And that was duly offered in the third
and very brief presentation of Rev. Tofiga Falani, president of
the Congregational Christian Church of Tuvalu, when he said, "our
petition is that we want to survive."

Having travelled to Copenhagen over two days from the South
Pacific atolls of Tuvalu via Fiji, New Zealand, the United States
and United Kingdom, Falani, who is also a member of the WCC
Central Committee, said his is small voice from a place you can’t
even see on the world map.

Tuvalu is a series of south Pacific atolls that stands barely a
meter above sea level and is threatened by rising sea levels.

According to climate scientists the 12,000 people on Tuvalu and
others on small islands in the South Pacific, are at the
forefront of the climate change issue because of the threat to
their low-lying land, he said.

"The role of the church is to accommodate any issues that
jeopardize the way forward for our people ... because the people
are carrying God’s image," he said.

"We rely so much on hope and your prayers," he said. "Our
mission is that we are trying to encourage our people that God
loves everyone."

Falani’s message to the group was short but poignant and offered
the much need reality check about the threat caused by climate
change. It is real.

"These are the people God created and placed on those small
atolls in the South Pacific," he said. He didn’t need to say much
more to get the message of climate change and climate justice
across to the group. 

>[922 words]

(*) Mark Beach is WCC director of communications.

Audio recordings of the presentations and other ecumenical
events at the summit:
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=7462

Photo gallery(high resolution pictures available):
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=7461

Church leaders' message to COP 15 negotiators:
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=7471

Press release:"Bells ring a wake-up call for climate justice",
14 December 2009
http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/news-management/eng/a/article/1634/bells-ring-a-wake-up-call.html

Opinions expressed in WCC Features do not necessarily reflect
WCC policy. This material may be reprinted freely, providing
credit is given to the author. 

Additional information:Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507
6363 media@wcc-coe.org

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith,
witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical
fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings
together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches
representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110
countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic
Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from
the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.