Carbon-free Christianity?

While enjoying much of what Paul Helm had to say in his recent article on global warming (EN, November 2008), I would like to challenge a number of points he appeared to be making.

Disagreements

Firstly, climate change is not an issue of ‘radical uncertainty’1. The weight of evidence that climate change is taking place on our God-created planet is beyond reasonable doubt, with the large majority of scientists being convinced that the cause is human action altering the balance of gases in the atmosphere. Of course, there are uncertainties, but these are largely about the precise details of the causes, the likely impacts of the changes, and the most effective solutions. Christians can be certain about climate change.

Secondly, because of this certainty, climate change is not one of those issues that should be treated in a ‘Pascalian fashion’. Christians are certain about a whole variety of issues allowing us to take a clear and positive Christian approach to action. Because climate change is one of these certain issues we should take personal action, not as some kind of insurance policy, but because we love and care for God’s creation.

Thirdly, the article suggests that global capitalism and the market are not the cause of climate change and that blame should be laid at the door of human nature. While at one level this is clearly true, it is simply not true to suggest that ‘capitalism is not morally perverse, it is morally neutral’. Global capitalism and the markets are not God-given systems that sinful human beings simply misuse. We have created these systems in a sinful way to suit our sinful purposes. Christians work towards making bad systems less bad in many other areas of life and it is right that we do the same with the causes of climate change.

These three errors, I believe, lead to the wrong conclusions being made about what action Christians take in response to the challenge of global warming. So how should we respond?

A different approach

Firstly, and very simply, we should recognise that climate change is a serious issue and something all Christians should be concerned about. Acceptance of the evidence for climate change is a more reasonable position for Christians to take than doubt. God gave us a mandate to care for his creation — plain and simple. No question. This is the one earth that God has given us, with an instruction to care and tend it so that it will feed, clothe and shelter us. Of course, I realise that the earth is not our home for ever, but this mandate loses none of its force just because we know that one day there will be a new creation.

Secondly, we need to recognise that we are failing to do that caring — and failing in a big way. Again — no question. Currently the population of the planet is using the earth’s renewable resources at more than twice the rate that they can be replenished, with some countries using vastly more than their ‘fair share’. If everyone on earth lived the same lifestyle as we do in Europe then we would need around three planets to provide all the resources ‘needed’. And this says nothing about our consumption of non-renewable resources such as oil, gas and coal, all of which are going to run out one day. We simply can’t carry on in the same way and we should recognise that we have not been good stewards of the rich natural world that God created and generously commanded us to care for, either as individuals or as nations.

Thirdly, I believe that Christians should take a lead in fighting climate change. Many serious-minded people firmly believe that climate change is a moral issue. All over the world people are being adversely affected by climate change resulting from the decisions, actions and selfishness of others. Some would go so far as to say that climate is an issue worthy of positive Christian action as much as some of the great 19th-century Christian-led campaigns against slavery or prison or current campaigns against poverty or injustice. If you hold this view, then although climate change is obviously not part of the Christian gospel it is, I believe, the responsibility of each and every Christian to take part in action. We each need to examine our own lives and see how they match up to God’s requirements for a life lived in respect for his creation. And once we have done this we should make a positive and enthusiastic response to the goodness of God and through our Christian lives demonstrate our desire to care for his whole creation.

Fourthly, climate change also needs a church-based response. It is simply not good enough to leave it to individual Christians to ‘do their bit’ which, in any case, will never be enough when there are systemic failures that need tackling. I find it sad that that Tesco’s and other supermarket chains appear publicly to be doing more to combat climate change than many churches! Of course, there are understandable reasons for this. Churches don’t have the resources to tackle every issue with the same energy and have to prioritise social action. Climate change is also such a vague and ‘somewhere else’ issue to grasp and with pressing issues facing many communities — homelessness, drug abuse, violence in the home — not such a priority. We also have to ask how well-equipped is the average Christian, or even the average pastor, when it comes to taking a lead in this area and, of course, many Christians are probably suspicious that climate change is not really happening — which is where this response started!

Fifthly, we need to be enthusiastic and positive about this mission. 40 years ago Martin Luther King Jr.. gave his ‘I have a dream’ speech and his positive view of the future energised people to action. Much of the current thinking about climate change from Christians and non-Christians alike is more of an ‘I have a nightmare’ view of the future. Very few climate change thinkers out there have a dream and vision for the future. Surely this is a gap that Christians can fill — for it is only Christians who have a vision worth having. Yes, we have a vision for a heavenly future, but our vision for our life on earth should be one of caring for our planet because it is God’s creation. And we do that caring, not for the non-Christians’ slightly selfish reasons of survival, but because it is here and belongs to God. It was this lack of any enthusiasm for making God’s earth a better place that I found so distressing in what Paul Helm wrote.

Less ‘stuff’

And finally — the way of doing this? This is where it gets a bit tougher, but at the same time the answer is relatively simple. It is probably high time that Christians began to re-examine ideas of voluntary simplicity and having less ‘stuff’, as some people have put it. 30 years on from reading Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger by Ronald Sider, I ponder how cleverly the devil has used the skin-deep prosperity of the years since then to capture our minds and lifestyles. 30 years ago Christians justified rich lifestyles in all sorts of ways. We are all even richer now in ways we probably didn’t dream of then, and we still use the same reasons! Many of the solutions to climate change are about consuming less and consuming right and much of what is needed on a personal scale is not rocket science.

Positive vision

But we do need a positive vision. A Christian carbon-free lifestyle does not have to involve a future of hair shirts and organic muesli every day. God has created us as clever people and although some scientists have the tough job of predicting the doom and gloom of climate change, others are working hard at new ways of making things, new systems of production, new energy, and so on. There are solutions out there and, although the changes in the future are challenging, it is important for Christians to be involved. We are the only ones with a firm foundation for making change.

James Hindson went to University in Aberystwyth and became a Christian through Alfred Place Baptist Church. After time as a teacher in Wales, he now lives in Shrewsbury and works as freelance environmental consultant. He worships with Shrewsbury Evangelical Church.

1 The evidence for climate change is clearly presented in Al Gore’s film An Inconvenient Truth. Lonely Planet also publish a good guide to the issues. If you want advice on personal action, then One Planet Living by World Wide Fund for Nature is a short readable starting point.

A response to Paul Helm's article on climate change

Disagreements

A different approach

Less ‘stuff’

Positive vision

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