One day a reporter called me and asked me why I believed in the "Climate Movement." I replied, "Climate Movement?" I sensed she was talking about an ideology or religious/political belief in her question. My reply was, "I don't believe in the Climate Movement. I do, however, understand math and science and can see that the data is presenting a very severe threat to our survival!"
It is important to talk about religion and climate change, because our actions are strongly influenced by our beliefs. When I was a teenager in a protestant family, I learned that there are two notions about religion that are quite divergent. One idea is that God set things in motion and gave us free will to make choices in our daily lives. The other is predetermination, meaning that God has a master plan for everyone and we are merely following in His path. While these brief definitions are neither complete nor necessarily true, it is useful to see how these differing views shape our thoughts on climate change.
A predetermination believer puts God in charge of their life. "God is still up there. He will take care of us." This path both relieves us of doing anything about the climate change problem and ignores what our "lying eyes" are telling us. Some folks with this view also talk about man's "dominion" over the earth. That's right, earth is just here for us to do as we please, take what we want and never worry about the consequences.
The free choice believers, on the other hand, take the view that earth is our gift from God and we must "chose" to protect the earth as we would protect our family. The pope is about to say a few things along these lines in his encyclical later this month. There may be "hell to pay" for the dominion thinkers.
Considering climate change as an issue, many churches are taking a very strong stand on protecting mother earth. Interfaith Power and Light, for example, is an ecumenical group taking strong action to slow, stop and reverse the impact of climate change. Luckily, there are a greater number of people in this camp.
Religion and politics are topics that are taboo at the dinner table in many homes and family gatherings, but they need to be discussed regarding climate change. For that reason I hope you will tune in tomorrow to discuss politics and climate change.
Scott
P.S. Thanks for all your great comments!
