In the age of the Anthropocene, humans as the dominant species are driving significant and even irreversible environmental changes, thereby shaping the future of all living beings and our only planetary home. The complicated relationship between humans and ecosystems has often been mediated by economics and technology. Prevailing theologies and spiritualities have also molded these interactions.
Friday evening when the leaders of the G20 states will be meeting in Hamburg and discussing global economic, social, environmental and political issues, the churches in Germany are inviting people in Germany and all over the world to a common peace prayer.
He earned the title “Green Patriarch” as a religious leader addressing alarming environmental issues over at least two decades. In 2008, Time Magazine named His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew as one of 100 Most Influential People in the World, for “defining environmentalism as spiritual responsibility”.
“Today, thankfully, religion is no longer a ‘taboo’ in political science and development literature,” said Rev. Dr Olav FykseTveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) at an international conference on religion and sustainable development.
Implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change sharpened discussion of the 2015 papal encyclical Laudato Si’ at a UN conference initiated by the Holy See and several permanent missions to the UN on 15 January in Geneva. Among the presenters were the president of the Pontifical Council of Justice and Peace, the apostolic nuncio to the United Nations and the WCC general secretary.
Faith campaigners have presented a total of 1,780,528 signatures gathered worldwide calling for decisive action to curb global warming. The petitions were delivered to leaders of the United Nations COP 21 climate conference beginning its work in Paris.
In a recent statement, religious leaders called for an ambitious climate agreement, reminding all governments to commit to emission cuts and climate risk reduction. They promised to continue working for climate justice, including divestment from fossil energy.
The World Council of Churches welcomed Pope Francis’ encyclical “Laudato Si'”, released on June 18, which highlights what churches and ecumenical organizations have been doing for decades on caring for the earth and climate justice issues.
Christians need a "spirituality of resistance" to face oppression, violence and experiences of defeat, the WCC general secretary said in an address at Germany’s biggest Protestant gathering.
“Among the many challenges that we face in the search for Christian unity is the need to overcome divisions and prejudices that exclude one another,” Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the WCC said to the 22nd Pentecostal World Conference in Stockholm, Sweden.
