en expert warns on climate
en staff
Date posted: 1 Sep 2021
The latest international report on global climate change is ‘a stark warning of the crisis facing the planet,’ according to an expert who writes for Evangelicals Now.
Simon Marsh (see photo), who has expertise in geography, environmental assessment and regional planning, and who works for the RSPB, was speaking after the release of the news delivered by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a group of scientists whose findings are endorsed by the world’s governments.
Evangelicals warn over ‘shocking’ cost of living crisis
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 1 Oct 2022
Politicians have a moral duty to act, given
the
‘shocking’ rises
in
the energy price
cap – and the energy price guarantee for
consumers does not go far enough, Christian
charities have warned.
CARE – Christian Action Research and
Education – said immediate action is needed
to protect the vulnerable. It issued the warning
just before Liz Truss’ new government was
formed
in early September, and ahead of
another significant rise in fuel price.
‘People are suffering, are dying, how dare you?’
Date posted: 1 Feb 2021
Dear Editor,
Thank you for publishing the helpful article, ‘Caring for God’s earth’ by Simon Marsh (en, January 2021). He referred to the injustice of our consumption of more than our fair share of the world’s resources, but we should also remember the terrible damage being done to the lives of the poor by climate change, right now, as a result of our combustion of fossil fuels. As Greta Thunberg put it, at the UN in September 2019: ‘People are suffering, people are dying. how dare you?’
earth watch
After COP26: eco-anxiety?
Simon Marsh
Date posted: 1 Dec 2021
What keeps you awake at night? Perhaps it’s the threat of coronavirus. When I was a teenager, it was the threat of nuclear armageddon that made me anxious.
These days it’s ‘eco-anxiety’ that’s likely to be a worry, especially for children and young people. Eco-anxiety is the chronic fear of environmental doom; it’s not a medical diagnosis, but according to the British Medical Journal, reported in the Guardian, recognition of eco-anxiety and its complex psychological effects is increasing, as is its disproportionate impact on children and young people. According to the same report, a 2020 survey of child psychiatrists in England showed that more than half (57%) are seeing children and young people distressed about the climate crisis and the state of the environment.
Afghanistan: Christians flee from cities
Iain Taylor, Release International
Date posted: 1 Nov 2021
The latest reports from Afghanistan reveal
that Christians have been fleeing
the
cities, moving to remote areas to escape
the Taliban. Many Christians who remain
are trapped inside the country, unable to
leave via its now-sealed borders. Some have
received death threats.
Although many Christians managed
to
get out ahead of the Taliban advance, there
are still thought to be several thousand in
Afghanistan. Even if they wanted to leave
they could not, as the borders are strictly
controlled by the Taliban.
defending our faith
Job, a witness for today
Chris Sinkinson
Date posted: 1 Nov 2021
In the midst of Covid, brutal murders,
energy crises, and the impact of climate
change, no doubt many of us are drawn to
the Book of Job as a work that expresses
what it means to live in a world of sorrow.
For apologetics and sermons it provides
a context to deal honestly and directly with
tragedy and pain.
earth watch
Would you break the law?
Simon Marsh
Date posted: 1 Nov 2021
Have you ever been on a protest march?
I’m not a natural protester, although there have been a couple of occasions when I joined a climate march. Most recently (before the pandemic) it was in support of a youth climate march in Cambridge. It ended on King’s Parade where many of the marchers lay down on the lawn in front of King’s College. I confess that my respect for authority was such that I kept off the grass.
earth watch
A story of hope
Simon Marsh
Date posted: 1 Jun 2022
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the enormity
of the climate and ecological crisis.
‘Eco-anxiety’ may not be a medically-recognised condition, but
it’s
something
many people can relate to, especially if they
care deeply about
the natural world. It’s
important for Christians not only to share
the hope we have in Jesus Christ, but stories
of hope we can experience
in the world
about us. Indeed,
secular communicators
recognise that always harping on about the
bad stuff only puts people off taking action,
and so organisations working to care for
creation need to tell positive stories (while
not ignoring the bad news).
Teenagers, mental health and the gospel
Eleanor
Date posted: 1 Feb 2021
If you ask any teenager today to summarise in a word what they think of the state of the world, I doubt you would get one positive answer in a thousand.
Recently, in my sixth form PSHCE class, the teacher started the lesson off with that question, and sure enough the answers were immensely depressing. ‘Racist’, ‘Sexist’, ‘Classist’, ‘Empty’, ‘Dying’, ‘Pointless’ – by the end, the teacher seemed slightly taken aback at the dark direction his ‘think about the world’ exercise had taken!
earth watch
Rising sea levels: what’s the truth?
Simon Marsh
Date posted: 1 Dec 2020
Where I live in the former county of Huntingdonshire is a long way from the sea. But according to some predictions of sea-level rise, it could be a lot closer soon.
In one scenario, with widespread inundation of the Fens, Cambridge could virtually become a coastal city by 2050. London, Cardiff, Blackpool and Hull could all be severely affected. Scenarios like these are alarming and make great media headlines, but what is really going on?
Why do some US evangelicals still support Donald Trump?
By evangelical historian, Martyn Whittock
How strong is evangelical support for Donald Trump now? How has his recent bout of Covid affected that perception? And watching from outside the US, how is it possible Bible believing Christians can back such an extraordinary figure?
defending our faith
The right to offend and ‘the coddling of the American mind’
Chris Sinkinson
Date posted: 1 Jan 2022
Apologetics, like comedy, requires that we are able to challenge points of view, express unusual opinions and think outside of the box. Apologetics, also like comedy, is not to the taste of the easily offended.
In February 2021 Merseyside Police had to issue an apology over a poster campaign which had claimed ‘Being Offensive is an Offence’. The force had released an unfortunate media picture of a police van bearing the false claim and including four menacing police offers, one holding what could be interpreted as a cane. In the wake of widespread criticism it was withdrawn and the apology issued. According to the Crown Prosecution Service finding something offensive does not mean you are a victim of a crime and causing someone offence does not mean you have committed a crime.
defending our faith
The Schaeffer paradox
Chris Sinkinson
Date posted: 1 Jan 2021
If you have any interest at all in apologetics
– the defence of the faith – you will have
come across the work of Francis Schaeffer
(1912-1984).
It
is hard
to over-estimate his great
influence on thoughtful evangelicalism. His
range of writings, from climate change to
postmodern art, reflect a rare calling as a
missionary to culture. There were weaknesses
in
his ministry,
oversimplifications
of
philosophical
theory
and
a
perilous
partnership with secular political power, but
contemporary apologetics is enormously in
his debt.
After the vote: what next for evangelicals in the US?
(As en went to press, various lawsuits disputing the result were ongoing.)
Gerald Bray reports from Alabama
The coronavirus pandemic has unexpectedly found me in Alabama, where I have enjoyed a front-row seat in the 2020 elections circus.
news in brief
Sex ed man returns
The creator of the sexually-explicit Warwickshire sex ed curriculum removed from use in the county earlier in 2020, has made a comeback with a new curriculum on his Going Off the Rails website.
Jonny Hunt claims his new work closely follows the government Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) ‘curriculum’. A training session must be attended before the materials can be purchased. The self-styled ‘sex ed’ consultant’s biography still includes no academic qualifications in the field of education or RSE (en January 2020).
Nigeria: complex causes,
systematic destruction
All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for International Freedom of Religion or Belief
Date posted: 1 Aug 2020
A report was published on 15 June titled
‘Nigeria: Unfolding Genocide?’
It points out that the violence has claimed
the lives of thousands of people and displaced
hundreds of thousands more. It has caused
untold human and economic devastation and
heightened existing ethno-religious tensions.
Despite the scale of the violence, the conflict
is much less well known internationally than
the ten-year-long Boko Haram insurgency.
defending our faith
Loving the creator’s work
Chris Sinkinson
Date posted: 1 Jan 2020
One of the topics now dominating public discussion is climate change. From Extinction Rebellion protests to BBC wildlife programmes, we are continually reminded that there is a real issue here.
Even Jeremy Clarkson, in the new Grand Tour series for Amazon, has admitted that climate change is a genuine threat to the environment and human existence. Clarkson, not known for sympathy with anything that would get cars off the road, conceded the point while filming on the Mekong river in Vietnam. Dramatic falls in river levels, destitute fishermen, absent rainfall, are all observed – leading Clarkson to admit there is an environmental crisis.
news in brief
New EA event held
Christians
from around
the UK
tuned
in to the Evangelical Alliance’s first ever
leadership conference last week.
The online
event was organised
after
the movement
said
it wanted Christians
in leadership, both within the church and
outside, ‘to share insight and pray into what is
happening in the UK and what God is saying’.
The evening was a mixture of
interviews,
worship, prayer and talks, hosted by Gavin
Calver, CEO of the EA, and Jo Frost, director
of communications and engagement, with
contributions from UK evangelical leaders.
2021: LOOKING AHEAD
A variety of evangelicals reflect on what might lie ahead in the next 12 months
Innovative evangelism? Adrian Reynolds, Associate National Director FIEC
I hope and I pray that 2021 will see churches give evangelism its appropriate focus. In general terms, the lockdown has held us back: churches have often succumbed (understandably) to survival mode – let’s just keep going! Others have seen opportunities, but have not really known how to make the most of them. Others still have not known how to adapt to a changing environment and have simply mourned what they cannot do rather than explore what they can.
Climate change & persecution?
Dominating the news during the Autumn and early New Year were the reports of ferocious bush fires sweeping across Eastern Australia.
Properties have been destroyed, people killed and from time to time, with high temperatures and strong winds, it was acknowledged that the situation was out of control.