LONDON - The call was made in the report ‘Hope in God’s Future’, received by the annual Methodist Conference on Wednesday.
The report encourages people to repent in particular for their complicity in systems that exploit creation and prey on the powerless, but also offers advice on how Christians can make positive lifestyle changes.
Rev David Gamble, the President of the Conference, said the report sent out a challenge to the Church to tackle the issue head on and commit to “significant action” over the next few years.
“The first step in making a difference is the recognition of what we’ve done wrong so far. But we can’t just stop there. We must not be beholden to economic growth at the expense of our world and the lives of those who are most vulnerable,” he said.
“In the face of climate change, do we give up and treat it as a lost cause? No. We are people of faith. We can turn the tide if we commit ourselves to acting together to make our planet a safer space.”
The report criticises the Government for failing to make clear how it will reach its target of an 80 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by the year 2050, but says the Church also needs to take action if it is going to accomplish the same goal with its own carbon emissions.
“We cannot expect the Government to take the issue seriously if we fail to do so ourselves, and this report outlines some big changes for the Church,” said Rev Gamble.
The Conference heard from Bishop Michael Baroi of the Church of Bangladesh, who urged the British Church to make climate change a priority.
He said: "By 2050, two thirds of my country will go under water and about 30 million people will be displaced and have no place of their own to live on this planet Earth, if we do not deal with this issue of global warming and climate change urgently and seriously.”
Church
Church must repent for climate change sins
The Methodist Church is calling upon Christians to acknowledge and repent of the sins they have committed that have contributed to climate change.
By: Jenna Lyle
Thursday, 9 July 2009, 9:18 (EST)
Have your say on this article
Added: Thursday, 9 July 2009, 18:03 (EST)
Rather than admit sins against the climate and repent the most appropriate action is to stop bearing witness to false gods driven by those who fail to tell the truth.
There is no scientific paper that describes and quantifies every action of CO2 in the atmosphere and how the atmosphere responds to it. Climate models are loaded with assumptions and parameterizations (i.e. guesses because the detail is unknown) and therefore cannot be trusted. Many scientists are only in the field for the money, but who can blame them when research funding almost always supports the IPCC's unsubstantiated claims. A lot more honesty all round would help the situation enormously. And in anticipation of responses that tell me that X has warmed I ask anyone taking this line to present irrefutable evidence of a human influence. P.S. Temperatures have been flat or falling since 2002 - those who claim it has risen are lacking in honesty.John, Melbourne, Australia
Added: Friday, 10 July 2009, 3:29 (EST)
What the church needs to repent of is buying the world's line on man-made climate change hook-line-and-sinker. While we have a God-given obligation to rule and subdue the earth, that doesn't include allowing the earth to rule and subdue us (think Romans 1 here). It is time the church made the gospel a priority instead of an addendum. But that is just the problem, once the gospel is discarded it is replaced with the lies of Al Gore and his pantheistic fellows. Wake up, the earth is has been cooling since 2001. It is high time the church put its faith in God instead of politicized science.
Pastor Mark Christopher, Cape Town, South Africa
Added: Saturday, 18 July 2009, 3:57 (EST)
As a climate scientist who is also a Christian, I am troubled by the frenzy among those who attribute climate change to human factors. Nearly forty years of research has convinced me that human effects on global climate are relatively small compared with natural variations (such as solar radiation changes and tropical Pacific temperatures). Pastor Mark is right: pantheism has affected many in the environmental movement. Rather than worshipping the Creator, folks are worshipping the creation. The global warming issue is a regrettable example of that.
Gee, Corvallis, Oregon, USA
Added: Monday, 20 July 2009, 11:26 (EST)
The more I know of science, the more I am in awe of the Great Creator. Ours is to understand and manage, not necessarily to change it. There is only a convenient correlation for those like Al Gore and his mentor, Maurice Strong who advocates "Isn't the only hope for the planet that the industrialized civilizations collapse? Isn't it our responsibility to bring about?" that latter 20th century temperatures and CO2 correlate. Do umbrellas cause rain? No. And examination of the chemistry and physics of water, and much less trace gases does not compute.
Gary, Nuclear Chemist, Richland WA USA
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