God Wants The Planet to Fry
theological excuses for inaction on climate change
Written by Mark
“Why aren’t Christians more concerned about climate change?” My friend Johannes was distressed. He was speaking at our local ‘Theology on Tap’ session, presenting his findings on how climate change would affect the poor in the Pacific region. It was absolutely clear, he told us, that Christians should be acting urgently on climate change. He cited three reasons:-
- God created the earth and expects us to take care of the earth for future generations.
- God has a special heart for the poor, who are most adversely affected by climate change.
- God is a God of justice. It has been particularly unjust that the rich nations of the world have benefited most in the last 200 years from burning fossil fuels, yet it will be the poorer nations which will be most adversely affected by the resulting climate change.
Johannes’ distress came from the fact that despite this clear mandate to act, most mainstream Christians have failed to do so. In fact some Christians, especially in the US, are outright denialists. When he looked into it, Johannes and others found three theological frameworks which tend to underpin inaction on climate change by people of faith:-
Rainbow theology: This optimistic framework says, however bad things appear, God will never allow the world to be destroyed, so we need not do anything to change the way things are. This framework is based on God’s promise to people after Noah’s flood, “Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.… I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth” (Genesis 9:11-13). Apparently many Christians in the Pacific islands hold to this theology. This is understandable, given that the modern day flooding of their homes is imminent with sea level rise caused by climate change. While I can understand the need for hope when the situation appears hopeless, I don’t share the passivity that can flow from the approach. Like any theological framework, it needs to be formed in the context of the whole of Scripture, especially the teachings of Jesus himself. There we find little doubt that we are called to action, not passivity, in the face of suffering and injustice: “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13); “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Matthew 5:9); “Love your neighbour as yourself” (Luke 10:27). All of these point to the imperative to be active in our love of a neighbour in need. And right now, there are few more in need than our Pacific island neighbours about to lose their homes forever.
Pantry theology: this framework says God gave the earth to people to use without limits, a bit like someone giving us a pantry full of goodies. Our only role is to walk in and take what we want, with no need to conserve resources. The pantry theology is is based on a narrow reading of Genesis; “God blessed them and told them ‘Multiply and fill the earth and subdue it”. (Genesis 1:28).
The implication of pantry theology is that God has put fossil fuels in our ‘pantry’ for us to use. If he didn’t want us to use them, he wouldn’t have put them there! The absurdity of the argument is easy to see when we think of God having also put opium poppies and arsenic on the earth, without the expectation that we use it all! This theology also ignores the creation story in Genesis 2 which instruct humans (regarding the earth) to “tend and care for it.” (Genesis 2:15)
Apocalypse theology: on the other end of the theological continuum from Rainbow theology is a much more pessimistic framework. An apocalyptic framework basically says the world is coming to an end anyway, so there’s not much point doing anything about it. In fact, some Christians say, the quicker climate change destroys the world the better, so that the new heaven and the new earth can begin. This apocalyptic framework is based on Jesus’ description of the ‘end times’;
“When you hear of wars and rumours of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.” (Mark 13:7-8)
I have little tolerance for Christians wasting time trying to figure out when the ‘end times’ will come and what that will look like. Jesus himself says, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Matthew 24:36). I have even less tolerance if those ponderings keep us from doing what we can to alleviate suffering here and now. Instead of trying to second guess God about how or when the ‘end times’ will come, there is ample clarity in the gospels as to what we should be doing before the end of time: loving our neighbour as ourself. And there’s little question that climate change is bringing plenty of opportunities to love my neighbours, be they in the Pacific Islands or in Bangladesh.
Johannes then presented an alternative theological framework for dealing with climate change. It is the ‘Nineveh framework’ so called after the famous story of Jonah and the whale. Many people know the story of Jonah being swallowed by a big fish (usually assumed to be a whale), but aren’t familiar with the back story. The great power in the Middle East at that time was the Assyrian empire. It was, as most empires, treating the poor in their kingdom very badly (Jonah 3:9). God ordered Jonah to go and challenge the Assyrians to change their ways. This was an outrageous request, equivalent perhaps to a poor Pacific Islander being called to challenge the CEO of a multi-national fossil fuel company. “A snowflake’s chance in hell”, we might say. Understandably, Jonah was reluctant to go. Instead he fled in the other direction towards Tarsus in Spain. The story goes that a storm and a big fish intervened to get Jonah to Nineveh, where he did challenge the powerful Assyrians. And lo and behold, they did change!
The parallels are clear. It may feel like we have a ‘snowflake’s chance in hell’ of turning around a powerful system of corporations, spin doctors and media to call people to lead more ecological sustainable lives. But it might just work. With the right truth spoken at the right time in the right place, we might just be able to turn this around. It is that hope that generates this book.
Pope Francis appears to share this hope that the right words in the right place might just turn around a very grim situation. Soon after he became pope, Francis issued an encyclical (an open letter to all of the faithful around the world) calling on people to take urgent action on climate change. One particular statement summarises very well the various causes for inaction we have discussed in this part:
“Regrettably, many efforts to seek concrete solutions to the environmental crisis have proved ineffective, not only because of powerful opposition but also because of a more general lack of interest. Obstructionist attitudes, even on the part of believers, can range from denial of the problem to indifference, nonchalant resignation or blind confidence in technical solutions.” Laudato Si’ para 14
God may have the power to save our earth from the ravages of climate change, but this is no excuse for not doing what we can now to rectify our mismanagement of earth thus far. We owe it to the poor, to ourselves and God to better care for this, the only planet we have.
Reflection Question:
Which of the four theological frameworks outlined in this article do you identify most strongly with? Has that framework helped you to take action on climate change?
Want to Learn More?
- Book: Pope Francis; 2015; Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home.
- Book: Dave Bookless; 2008; Planetwise; Inter-Varsity Press.
- Book: Katharine Hayhoe and Andrew Farley; 2011; A Climate for Change: Global Warming Facts for Faith- based Decisions; FaithWords.
- Book: Stephen A. Jurovics; 2016; Hospitable Planet: Faith, Action, and Climate Change; AbeBooks.
- NGO: Earthkeepers: Christians for Climate Justice; www.theearthkeepers.org ; Group encouraging a faith-based politically engaged response to climate change in North America.
- Video series: Global Weirding; https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi6RkdaEqgRVKi3AzidF4ow ;
A creative video series produced by Katharine Hayhoe, touching on a range of climate science and related religious and political issues.
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