wfn.org | Martin Luther King Jr. Inspires Church's Climate Change Letter

["Broadhurst, Tom" <tbroadhu@united-church.ca>]

For Immediate Release -- Thursday, January 14, 2010

Martin Luther King Jr. Inspires Church's Climate Change L etter

Toronto: On Sunday, January 17, 2010, Mardi Tindal, the  Moderator of
Canada's largest Protestant denomination, The United Church  of Canada,
will issue an open letter to Canadians about climate ch ange.

The letter, which is titled "Where Is the Hope after  Copenhagen", was
written following the Moderator's recent travel to Denmark  to attend the
United Nations Climate Change Conference. Tindal attended t he conference
as part of a World Council of Churches delegation.

It is a letter that Tindal describes as being primarily  inspired by
Martin Luther King, Jr. She explains that, in particular,  King's 1963
letter from a Birmingham jail galvanized her sense of p urpose in wanting
to address what she describes as "one of the most urg ent moral
challenges in human history."

The timing for the release of the letter is linked bo th to the one-month
anniversary of the end of the climate change talks and  to the
celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the Unite d States on
January 18.

She says King's powerful witness when faced with those  who criticized
him for his actions in fighting racial segregation, serve d as a primary
source of inspiration for her when she was writing this  letter.

Tindal will first read her letter, during the Sunday mo rning worship
service at Sydenham Street United Church in Brantford, On tario, on
January 17. Sydenham Street is Tindal's home congregation,  and the place
she sought comfort immediately following her return to Ca nada from
Denmark.

"The day after I returned home from the climate change  talks, I needed a
place to go where I could safely cry tears of lament, " says Tindal. "I
needed somewhere where I would be supported as I wrestl ed with the
bitter disappointment I felt with the result of the Cop enhagen talks."

She says it is fitting to return to Sydenham Street U nited Church this
Sunday to deliver a message that she hopes will be a  source of
inspiration and hope for those who, like her, were hear tbroken by the
missed opportunity of Copenhagen.

The text of Tindal's letter, which is currently embargoed , will be
posted on The United Church of Canada's website (www.unit ed-church.ca)
on Sunday, January 17, 2010.

For more information, or to arrange media interviews, ple ase contact:

Mary-Frances Denis

Program Coordinator, Media and Public Relations
The United Church of Canada
Tel: 416-231-7680 ext. 2016
Cell: 416-400-7273
E-mail: mdenis@united-church.ca

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