Religion and the Reality of Climate Change

[cbayer]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-m-j-hess-phd/religion-and-the-reality-of-climate-change_b_2244881.html



Peter M. J. Hess, Ph.D.Director of Outreach to Religious Communities, National Center for Science Education
Posted: 12/05/2012 11:57 am

Matthias Claudius penned some memorable lines in German two centuries ago that became in translation England's most popular harvest festival hymn:

We plough the fields, and scatter
the good seed on the land,
but it is fed and watered
by God's almighty hand;
he sends the snow in winter,
the warmth to swell the grain,
the breezes and the sunshine
and soft refreshing rain.

In the holiday season, many of us reflect on what it is for which we are thankful. Naturally, we give thanks when things are going well, and even in a disaster we might be grateful that the catastrophe was not worse or that people stepped forward to render assistance. Claudius's poem presupposes a general climatic stability that for several centuries has been conducive to thankful worship.

But how does this optimistic hymn play in the era of radical climate change? How will it sound in the future, when each decade may bring yet more frequent and extreme climate events? What is the providential reading of "God's almighty hand" in a prolonged and life-threatening drought, or in the agrarian disaster of a dust bowl? When we are battered by a Hurricane Sandy or Katrina, how do we understand the majestic line about God in the Navy hymn, "Who bidd'st the mighty ocean deep its own appointed limits keep"?

Indeed, what role do religion and theology play in the accelerating conversation about climate change? This has been a banner year for extreme weather events -- from severe drought in the American Midwest to the wildfire siege in Colorado to the "Frankenstorm" of Hurricane Sandy fueled by a warming Atlantic Ocean -- which have helped the reality of climate change to register on the consciousness of most people.

more at link

[northoftheborder]

1. Thanks for the link to other links that are very optimistic that some religious communities.....

... are taking action. Gives me a good feeling. Too many, and some I know, are in the "whatever....it is God's will" and "all things work together for good for those that love the Lord" mantra. Science and reason are "humanism" to them, and the opposite of faith. My faith is much broader and more complex than that. I haven't read all of the links yet, but will.

[cbayer]

2. You are welcome. I knew that this was a growing movement, but was not

aware of how organized it had become.

That's very good news. This is an all hands on deck operation and any group that wants to get involved should be strongly supported, imo.

At some point, those that are saying "It's god's will" will hopefully wake up and see that just as they believe that their god expects them to care for the temple that is their body, he also would want them to take care of the earth he created for them.

[northoftheborder]

3. Yes, by using the minds that he gave them to learn and understand .

[dimbear]

4. Good news for Bible believers, you have nothing to worry about: Genesis 8:22 reads

New International Version (©1984)

"As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease."

And if it ever rains again where you live, turn your eyes up to the sky. Watch for the sign of the rainbow.