Does religion agree with science on climate change?

By Henry Lutaaya, in Copenhagen

Declaring that climate change is the most important spiritual and moral issue of our time, religious leaders from over nine faiths groups called for radical action by politicians to halt the rate at which the globe is warming.

On Wednesday December 9, religious leaders shared the podium with scientists and declared that this is not the debate about creation but rather that it is a debate about values.

On the same day however, other religious leaders including Philip Foster, a retired clergyman from Cambridge, joined other climate change skeptics in one of the many press briefings here to claim that man kind is not behind climate change.

The scientists and religious leaders who believe that climate is happening, twere joined by the campaign group 350.org under the banner, Interfaith Declaration on Climate Change.

Their message was largely the same; that politicians need to take radical steps to stop the globe from further warming. They argued that the world is warming because of greed by corporate bodies and because of neglect of values by humanity.

They cited verses from the different faith books showing that man has the responsibility to care for the earth and also that the destiny of every human being is shared.

They reasoned that it is a moral issue for developed countries to raise money needed to support vulnerable people in developing countries who are suffering from the effects of global warming that has largely come from over a century of industrialization in the west.

While making pleas to negotiators to fix the problems arising from climate change, many of them expressed the view that politicians will not do much unless they get pressured by the publics in their own countries.

“Our planet is now being ruled by money, by greed and by conglomerates. They have no shame, they have no humility and we have to reclaim our planet,” declared Imam Abdul Wahid Padersen, who lives in Copenhagen.

L-R: Venerable Chang Ji, Dr. Stephen Schneider, Imam Abdul and Sister Brown

While Sister Joan Brown from the Franciscan sisters in the United States alluded to a message by Saint Francis, who, as Sr. Brown put it: “Called on everyone to care for mother earth who governs us.”

Dr. Stephen Schneider, one of the scientists who wrote the first assessment of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned: “We are very to the end of the time that we have to fix the problem after which climate change will become unfixable.”

It is interesting to note though that some religious leaders like the Buddhist Lakha Lama Rinpoche used the event  to blame science for enabling man, as he put it, ‘to steal resources from the earth than God has allowed us to’ to pollute the environment.

According to organizers of the interfaith declaration, this weekend as hundreds of churches around the world are preparing to ring bells 350 times. They hope this will raise awareness among believers and help create grassroots action that will force politicians to act.

Dr. Schneider agreed that scientists have only succeeded in identifying the problem, and that the remaining job of shaping the values of society will largely be carried by religious leaders.

 henrylutaaya@hotmail.com