Posted on 07/01/2005 7:26:46 PM PDT by sionnsar
A key international body of the Anglican Church has declared the wilful destruction of the environment to be a sin as a core group of Australian religious leaders have placed their political weight behind a campaign to fight global warming.
The environmental network of the worldwide Anglican communion has framed an urgent and strongly worded statement to the church's global leaders warning humanity has failed to fulfil "God's will for creation" and of the imminent "perilous and catastrophic collapse" of the Earth's ecosystem.
The advisory body calls for environmental education of its clergy, churches to be built to conserve energy and for pressure to be applied on governments and industries to build sustainable communities "beyond" the Kyoto Protocol. The protocol has not been ratified by Australia.
"We are becoming increasingly aware that the world is being harmed by us, and we know how to eliminate the harm we are doing," the statement says.
"This is breaking one of the most fundamental commandments known to us, in that we are knowingly causing the degradation of the world's ecosystems out of our greed and selfishness, rather than living with and protecting the design that issues from the creator's generosity."
The far-ranging statement was framed at a conference in April hosted by Canberra's Anglican bishop, George Browning, who is the network's new convener and was endorsed at last week's meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council in Nottingham.
While not binding on the wider communion, it was a platform for further dialogue, said Ann Young, chairwoman of the environment working group for Australia's Anglican church.
The move comes as the Uniting Church, the National Council of Churches in Australia, Catholic Earthcare Australia and the Australian Conservation Foundation joined forces to circulate a brochure to parishes across the country titled Changing Climate, Changing Creation. It urges a letter-writing campaign to push for increased spending on public transport, new targets and timetables for increased use of renewable energies and a commitment to the Kyoto Protocol.
The partnership recognises common ground between some church leaders who say they must care for "Creation" and environmentalists who believe the churches offer moral traction to the debate.
The conservation foundation's campaign director, John Connor, welcomed the churches as allies. Climate change was a hard issue to convey, he said. "We recognise if it is to have any traction people have to realise … we need to emphasise the moral urgency."
Catholic Earthcare, set up in 2002 by Australian bishops, will host a national conference in November of church, scientists and aid organisations to discuss ways to tackle climate change and alert the church to the "reality" of global warming and the need for action. Its chairman, Bishop Chris Toohey, said when it comes to persuading people to change lifestyles nothing had greater moral force than God's.
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams. Well then all Dioceses that are using endowment money from wealthy energy families need to disavow those assets. That will never happen, hippocrits , churches who rant and rave about polluting the environment and are rich because of that pollution.
Global warming is a sin."..........Then they should tell it to Mother Nature.
What about global cooling and the return of the ice age?
I don't think we should stop at global warming.
I'm really getting tired of this. Anyone who's ever studied geology should know that this "global warming" is nothing but bolshevik crapola.
The Kyoto Treaty is just another avenue for the world's socialist countries to tap into our treasury, which brings up a question: If they were to succeed in bringing us down, who are they going to hit on for money after that?
so now it was a sin to oppose nuclear power in the 70's when more nuke power plants would have reduced the need for fossil fuel?
Wonder if he would say that about gays?
LOL: "Kyoto: Split Atoms, Not Wood"
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