SCIENCE MEETS FAITH ON THE CLIMATE FIGHT FRONT LINES

At a Climate Protest, Science and Religion

Jada F. Smith, January 15, 2013 (NY Times)

“Science and religion went hand-in-hand…as leaders from both worlds gathered in front of the White House to protest what they cast as government inaction on climate change…With record-breaking global temperatures in 2012, severe droughts and several storms and hurricanes on the East Coast, some members of the American clergy are saying that human decisions that contribute to the extreme weather associated with climate change can no longer be left in the hands of politicians.

“Promoting an awareness of climate change and the role of humans as stewards of the earth has become a popular theme among progressive religious congregations. Even the climate skeptics in their ranks, some said, are starting to realize that something strange is going on…[At a] “pray-in” at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church and a subsequent march to the White House...[religious leaders] described environmental activism as an extension of the work [the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.] did to advance civil rights and economic justice…”

click to enlarge

“From the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans to a proposal to lay the proposed Keystone XL pipeline through some American Indian communities, some religious leaders have begun to see the issue of weather extremes, fossil fuel emissions and threats to habitats as a moral one…After prayers and religious readings from Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu and Sikh leaders and a few American Indian chants…the victims of Hurricane Sandy were [remembered]…

“…[Leaders said the next step] is to bring even more groups into the fold…[King, one said,] ‘would say that we need to come together because this is our planet, and if we lose this, then all the other issues won’t matter.’…”

Tweet