Holy divestments: Evangelicals rejoice at Church of England’s fossil fuel divestment

Sometimes, late at night, when her two boys have gone to bed and Eleanor Getson is doing the dishes at the end of the day, she is hit with an almost crippling fear.

“During the day, I can’t stop scrolling through stories about climate change,” said Getson, a 40-year-old evangelical living in Bradford with her husband and two kids, “glaciers melting, islands of plastic in the Pacific ocean, forest fires wiping out millennia of history.”

Sometimes, Getson says, the concern consumes her, “it’s too much to think about and I get this anxiety about what my children will suffer because of us.”

That’s why Getson was delighted to hear the news that the Anglican church she grew up in made the momentous decision to divest from fossil fuels last month. On June 22, the Church of England’s Church Commissioners and Pensions Board announced their divestments from all oil and gas companies.

Pressure on the Church of England to divest from fossil fuel companies has been building for several years as an increasing number of clergy, bishops, and dioceses have made divestment commitments and called for fossil-free pension schemes.

Among them have been evangelicals bringing their own distinctive arguments and motivations to the campaign.

Apocalypse now? When religion and natural disasters collide

As the Atlantic hurricane season begins, meteorologists are watching the Gulf of Mexico with increasing concern. A current of warm, tropical water known as the Loop Current is causing forecasters to fear “monster hurricanes” and a generally intense tropical storm season.

Hurricane Katrina, which went on to famously devastate large swaths of Louisiana and Mississippi, including New Orleans, crossed just such a Loop Current before making its harrowing landfall in 2005.

Extreme weather events like Katrina, climate convulsions and other natural disasters such as fires, earthquakes or tornadoes have inspired a range of religious reactions from the fearful or affected faithful. 

Some interpret them as a form of divine retribution and look for scapegoats upon which to place the blame. Others turn to religion as a form of “positive religious coping,” taking comfort in a higher power. Still others spring to action, providing critical support in the aftermath or offering prophetic hope for the future. 

With the hurricane and tornado seasons already upon us, post-summer wildfires looming on the horizon, global famine forecasts and potentially cataclysmic climate instability to come in the near future, this edition of ReligionLink explores the fascinating and often unsettling connection between natural disasters and religion.

Background

Experiencing something between sublime terror and numinous indescribability, when humans come face-to-face with volcanic eruptions, floods, earthquakes or epidemics they often seek to explain their upturned worlds in religious terms. 

Examining Americans’ experience with tornadoes over the years, historian Peter J. Thuesen wrote that reactions range between abject fear and awestruck fascination. “In the tornado, Americans experience something that is at once culturally peculiar and religiously primal,” he wrote. Exposing them to mysteries “above and beyond themselves,” the tornado whips up a “vortex of theodicy and the broader question of whether there is purpose or chaos in the universe.” 

Likewise, historian Philip Jenkins said that time and again, the languages of apocalypse, persecution and judgment have been used to understand climate catastrophes. Looking back over the long term, Jenkins wrote that disasters and climate change often result in “far-reaching changes in the nature of religion and spirituality.” 

Astute religion newswriters have taken notice. Given the increasing intensity of natural disasters brought on by changes in climate conditions and the ominous threat of other cataclysms always a possibility, stories about the intersections between natural disasters and religion are featuring more and more in our reporting.

Although religion is not “the only aspect of human affairs that is transformed during climate-driven disasters,” Jenkins wrote, “it is a very significant one, especially because this has so often been the primary means through which human beings have interpreted the world they see around them.” 

Taking a look at the resources available through the link below, these stories chronicle a mix of terror, trembling and spiritual searching. They feature narratives of renewed passion and inspiring commitment, scapegoating and persecution, apocalyptic expectations and mystical interpretations. Above all, they show how the convergence of faith and disaster is an area ripe for more nuanced, in-depth religion reporting.

Walking the Road to Zero Emissions with Young Christians in the UK

“The road,” wrote Spanish poet Antonio Machado, “is made by walking.” 

Often adopted as a metaphor for pilgrimage and spiritual journeys, it served as a clarion call for Sarah Moring, 25, a climate activist living in Manchester, England. 

In September 2021, Moring joined the Young Christian Climate Network (YCCN) — an advocacy community of young Christians in the UK aged 18-30 —  on its relay in advance of this year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26. 

Described as “a key moment in international climate negotiations,” COP26 is being held this November in Glasgow, Scotland. 

Stretching over 750 miles and cutting through Cardiff, London, and Oxford, YCCN urged participants like Moring to join the crusade for climate justice by walking a portion of the route between the end of the G7 meeting in Cornwall on June 13 and COP26’s opening ceremonies starting October 31.

"There's no issue more important": Chief Rabbi Rosen on Climate Change and Environmental Justice

When it comes to the twin issues of climate change and environmental justice, Chief Rabbi David Rosen is uncompromising.

“There’s no issue more important,” he said in a recent interview with KAICIID. “Of all the very significant things that need to be done in our world, what is their value if we are going to destroy it all? Our responsibility is a critical imperative for the survival of life on earth itself.”

A former Chief Rabbi of Ireland and senior rabbi of the largest Orthodox Jewish congregation in South Africa, Rosen is a prominent interreligious leader. As such, he is the American Jewish Committee’s International Director of Interreligious Affairs and a member of the KAICIID Board of Directors.

Chief Rabbi David Rosen speaking at the Religions for Peace 10th World Assembly in Lindau, Germany (PHOTO: Courtesy RfP)

Of all aspects of his work in interreligious dialogue and education, his greatest passion remains the care of the environment and the need to reform our lifestyles accordingly.

“As a religious practitioner, I believe that there is no issue today that is as compelling or imperative for religious people to be engaged with,” he said.

In addition to his work with KAICIID, Rosen has worked with Religions for Peace (RfP) and the Parliament of the World Religions on a variety of interreligious efforts aimed at combatting the calamitous effects of climate change. He frequently writes, speaks, and is actively engaged with multiple initiatives addressing the challenges posed by climate change.

Two of those initiatives are the Jerusalem-based Interfaith Centre for Sustainable Development (ICSD) and the Interfaith Rainforest Initiative — an international, multi-faith alliance that “works to bring moral urgency and faith-based leadership to global efforts to end tropical deforestation.”

Rosen's convictions arise out of a deep personal appreciation of the environment as a gift from God.