The following statement was written by Austin Childress, Olufemi Gonsalves, Darren Hagood, Barnabas Lin, and Dylan Parker, PhD students at Fuller Theological Seminary in the Fall 2021 Theology in The Public Sphere seminar, on November 15, 2021. The statement is representative of their views and does not necessarily represent the views of the Fuller student body as a whole.
Climate change knocks at the door of all the nations across the globe. All of creation is in imminent danger in ways that are connected to – and yet eclipse – all local and national conflicts. On August 9th, 2021, UN Secretary-General António Guterres announced that the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report was nothing less than a “code red for humanity.” The geological clock has struck midnight. In the words of António Guterres, “The sirens are sounding. Our planet is talking to us and telling us something. And so are people everywhere. Climate action tops the list of people’s concerns, across countries, age and gender. We must listen-and we must act-and we must choose wisely.” In order to mitigate the worst outcomes, all humans across the globe must commit to a shift in consciousness that prioritizes a reverence for the sacredness of all creation over viewing creation as a means for profit. We must act now.
The climate crisis offers a unique opportunity for solidarity, collaboration, and international cooperation. The participation of many nations in the COP26 summit is encouraging and signals a global willingness to engage with each other on global issues. However, with the summit closing short of its goals and the needed measures to limit the rise of global temperature to 1.5 degrees, it has become clear that these agreements – non-binding and filtered through economic appeals to business sectors – will not be enough. We applaud much of the work and spirit of the COP26 and urge all nations to seize this momentum and resist economic pressures that fable a world of unlimited resources for human consumption. Sacredness and survival will always be endangered as long as profit is the driving force of human commitment. Alok Sharma, COP26 president, closed the summit by assuring the world that the 1.5 degrees goal was kept in reach, but “its pulse is weak.” Taking advantage of the momentum engendered by the summit, all nations must make concrete, identifiable plans to follow through on their commitments, so that at next year’s summit, the weak pulse of climate hope achieved here becomes the strong beat of justice and expectation.
The earth was brought into existence and is held in existence by the Creator (Gen. 1:1; Col. 1:16-17), who has called humanity to protect and nurture the planet as stewards, guardians, keepers, caretakers, and protectors of creation (Gen. 2:15), collaborating with all creatures as co-inheritors of the divine breath of life (Gen. 7:15). As stewards, we were given the world not to abuse it but so that we would revere and cultivate its divine belonging (Ps. 24:1) and facilitate its rest and renewal (Deut. 5:12-15). We believe that, on the one hand, such reverence and responsibility for all of life positions us for blessings and prosperity in the form of material abundance for humanity, animal life, and the land. However, on the other hand, such neglect or outright violation of our call to protect and nurture all creation will lead to societal collapse and our collective death (Ex. 7:4-5; Deut. 28). Therefore, we call for a united human opposition to any further violation of the sacredness of all life and all agendas that continue to place the pursuit of profit over the divinely endowed dignity of all creation (Mt. 6:24).
We understand that there comes a time to call on the state to wield its appointed authority (Rom. 13), a time to call free people to act when the state cannot or will not (Rev. 13), and a time for the people and the authorities to act together (Mk. 12). Further, we do not think this is a time for blame, for all have violated the sacred (Rom. 3:23), all are implicated, and there can be no boasting or judgment. This is the time to cry out to God for help and to manifest action in keeping with repentance (Mt. 3:8). Governments, corporations, and communities must work together. To echo the late Rev. Dr. King, in his final sermon on April 3. 1968, the choice is not between action and non-action. The choice is between action and non-existence.
In light of these beliefs, we call on the human community to act for climate justice in the following ways:
ONE: We call on all developed nations to both individual action and international collaboration on climate change by way of education and (inter)national commitment.
First, all nations should develop and implement concrete ways to educate their populations on sustainability and raise awareness on climate injustice, providing resources for this global shift in consciousness toward the sacredness of all creation. Second, all nations should revisit their (inter)national commitments – particularly economic commitments – and evaluate them by the following question: how can national goals be re-envisioned so that all our endeavors reflect a commitment to the value of creation – human and otherwise – over profit?
A proper starting point would be the establishment of official organizations that work toward restorative truth telling for every nation, seeking to learn what they have contributed to climate injustice, particularly how they have inflicted harm on the Indigenous people who kept the land long before their arrival, confessing the present evils and precedent atrocities that continue to benefit those in power, implementing concrete reparation, restitution, and reconciliation. This will put nations in touch with communities who possess knowledge on how to better care for our mutually inherited creation and expand our consciousness of our place in and accountability to the global community that has existed long before us and will continue long after we are gone.
TWO: We call on all religious communities of every faith to reclaim and proclaim humanity’s primary vocation as one of stewards, guardians, and keepers of the gift of creation.
Regardless of our differences, we cherish agreement on our inheritance of the earth and our responsibility for it. In light of our failures and in the face of impending disaster, the religious communities of the earth must lead the nations in regular rhythms and public acts of confession, lament, and repentance. We must confess the harm visited upon all creation by ourselves, our communities, and our ancestors, and this confession must lead to lamenting and true grief over the truth of the matter, so that we may adequately repent of the demonic fantasies of anthro-supremacy and detachment from creation. We must teach our people that we are one with and dependent on creation and resist together the political economy of neoliberal capitalism that renders the earth and its inhabitants as intrinsically without value until her resources are excavated, pillaged, and processed into a commodity, restoring to our lives the sacredness of all life and flourishing.
As members of the Christian community, we call upon the church to contribute to this effort. Christians have contributed to some of the most enriching progress on our planet, but we have also led the way in acts of exploitation, domination, and destruction. Too often we have wed faith to the powers that be, exchanged truth for a lie, and listened to the voice of political and economic power rather than the voice of God. Now is the time for Christian churches to critically examine their theological, financial, and political complicity in the climate crisis in order to tell the truth about where we are and what we have done, so that we may have concrete roads forward through repentance, on local and global levels, and a pathway for returning to the reverence for all of God’s creation.
THREE: We call on corporations to use their power, influence, and opportunity to create lasting climate justice.
Corporations of every kind, while not neglecting the importance and necessity of profit, must reevaluate their methods, practices, and partnerships in terms of sustainability. Such entities must find ways to drastically reduce their carbon footprint, but reducing complicity is not enough. Such entities must also find ways to actively and urgently contribute to the healing of the earth, whether through restoring its forests, replenishing its wildlife, or cleaning its air and land of pollution.
FOUR: We call on individuals, plagued as we are by alienation from one another, from our work, from our land, and from ourselves, to roll up our sleeves and join, to the degree we are able, this work of pursuing justice for all of creation.
In our own contexts and relationships, we must each reevaluate our own commitments under the same question of prioritizing the sacredness of creation over profit, convenience, and consumerism. We must specifically reevaluate our consumer habits – what we buy and where we buy it – and pursue more sustainable patterns of consumption wherever we can. To the extent that we are able, we must all focus our energies on our local communities so that our place and our land may thrive and we can resist the harmful extraction, powered by fossil fuels, of goods and resources from other communities.
Such attitudes must lead to concrete ways in which every individual reduces their dependence and consumption (direct and indirect) of fossil fuels. We must each do our part and, as we call governments to cut CO2 emissions, so must we. National leaders cannot be our scapegoat, for together we consume the fossil fuels that are produced, and production follows demand. What’s more, the disappointments and deficiencies at the COP26 summit communicate clearly that it will not be enough to wait on our leaders to move. We must move forward together in faith, hope, and love.
We believe these changes will knit us back into the fabric and friendship of the human community and of creation, for we are not alone. Christian scriptures promise that when we loose the chains of injustice on all creatures and untie the cords of the yoke, when we set the land free, and do away with the pointing finger and malicious talk, then light will break forth like the dawn and our healing will quickly appear. The light will rise in the darkness and our night will become like noon day. These promises are for usand for all creation.
As the late Rev. Dr. King wrote in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.” This is true not only of human life but of all life and all of creation. Together, the earth and all its inhabitants are waiting with great anticipation for humanity to respond to its sacred call of stewardship (Rom. 8:19-22). While education will inform us and concrete acts of restoration through policy change will bring progress, we believe that a lasting change will only result from a global reconnection with all of creation, including all of life and the land, which begins only by confession, lament, and repentance.
We make these calls with urgency, for God is not asleep. We live on inherited land and the Creator will hold nations, leaders, and communities accountable for every harmful and careless agenda and policy that encourages the destruction of creation rather than its flourishing. The earth is the Lord’s (Psalm 24), and God is no respecter of persons (Rom. 2:11). If we stand against the care of creation, then we have made ourselves enemies of divine love and declared our opposition to the divine purposes of rest, peace, and well-being.
But we also make these calls with hope, for God is ready and willing to forgive and to save. The Lord is speaking through the pain felt by creation and by those closest to it, the ocean and Indigenous peoples of the earth, and if we listen the call is heard for leaders to take action on their promises at the COP26 summit and for individuals to join in the work of justice. If we would turn in compassion and humble listening, and if listening would lead to lament, and if lament would lead to action, then God will hear and the Lord will heal us and our land.
