Episcopal Church Bishop: Denying Climate Change 'Sinful'
"Jesus insists…"
3.28.2015
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According to the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church Katherine Jefferts Schori, denying climate change is a sin.
She says Jesus "insists" that Earth's citizens reduce their carbon footprint and proselytize others to do the same.
Schori kicked off a 30-day challenge in Los Angeles on Tuesday that the church labeled "The Climate Change Crisis." As keynote speaker, the former-marine-biologist-turned priest, used the event to preach environmental stewardship.
"We have failed to love what God has given us," she stated in her opening address. "We are unwittingly redesigning the Earth on timescales that are infinitesimal compared to previous geologic and evolutionary rates."
Noting that there are "a few very loud voices" who deny climate change, Jefferts Schori opted to brush them aside because they are motivated by "greed, self-centered political interests, [and] willful blindness."
She then labeled those actions a sin:
The Judeo-Christian tradition has always called those motivations sinful. It’s decidedly wrong to use resources that have been given into our collective care in ways that diminish the ability of others to share in abundant life. [A "sin of omission," she claimed]We are making war on the integrity of this planet… the violence of war unleashed by environmental chaos and greed. We were planted in this garden to care for it, literally to have dominion over its creatures. Dominion means caring for our island home.We are meant to love God and what God has created and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Jesus insists that those who will enjoy abundant life are those who care for all neighbors, especially the 'least of these' -- the hungry and thirsty, the imprisoned and sick -- and that must include all the species God has nurtured on this planet.
Jefferts Schori blamed "human beings with the most resource intensive lifestyle" as causing the starvation, displacement, and impoverishment of whom she calls "climate refugees" -- human or animal.
The bishop said calling this event a "crisis" was by design because humans are now faced with a "life or death" decision: "Change our destructive and overly consumptive ways, or we can ignore the consequences of our actions or slowly steam like the proverbial frogs in a soup pot."
However, she warned that there is not much time left to choose.
The entire keynote speech and event can be viewed here.
H/T Huffington Post
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