I posted the following as a comment on this post on UMC.org’s UMNS News section, on this post: http://www.umc.org/news-and-media/boards-challenge-others-to-remove-lgbtq-bar. Since they monitor the comments, and it is Sunday, it probably won’t appear there until tomorrow, I wanted to circulate my comments, so I made it into a blog post , posted the notice of the blog post to my Social Media accounts, and also posted it to the the Facebook post of this article on UMNS’s Facebook page.
I am always glad to see the UMC and UMNS continue to tell the story of the Church, even when it seems it is struggling, judging by the sharp disagreements over sexuality. I have always been, since joining the UMC, appreciative of the denomination’s willingness to let everyone know what is happening churchwide re: these issues. BUT……Given the willingness to continue reporting on the continuous struggle with GLBT-welcoming and marriage issues, and also on the also-contentious Black Lives Matter movement and issues around that, why is it apparently so glaringly different when it comes to the Climate Crisis?
There are NUMEROUS efforts underway WORLDWIDE in the UMC and across numerous denominations, the Catholic Church, and in other religions, that are taking action on this crisis, and yet we don’t have this reguloar stream of articles like we do on the GLBT or Racism issues (and let me repeat, I am NOT pointing this out as any kind of complaint. I feel the coverage there is warranted and appropriate and well-done.) The problem is that the Climate Crisis represents AT LEAST as a threat to world peace as do GLBT and Race; in fact, the effects of Climate Change exacerbate every kind of unrest, leading to increased intensity of weather disasters, mass immigration, inequality in exposure to various adverse climate and pollution effects, etc.
And it is our planet’s ability to sustain this post-Industrial world we are creating out of what God has created for us. The effects of this culture we have created are destructive in an unprecedented way. It’snot something we can ignore, and yet our churches ramble on seemingly unconcerned. It doesn’t communicate much concern to continue to relegate the Climate Crisis to a “back page, below the fold” status amongst the “News” about our Church in Our World. We have a ways to go to get to a level that communicates the DIRE nature of our ecological predicament, and it is vital that our theological institutions and communities begin to act as if we realize this, and if they actually DO NOT, to realize the importance to all of us that we do.
As the UMC”™s #UMCGC 2016 approaches, where is Climate Crisis on the list of “issues”? https://t.co/fdcf88Veu3
As the UMC”™s #UMCGC 2016 approaches, where is Climate Crisis on the list of “issues”? https://t.co/XqPVjweiwP
Blog post: As the UMC”™s GC2016 approaches, where is Climate Crisis on the list of “issues”? https://t.co/bFrSrqE9Ok
Blog post: As the UMC”™s GC2016 approaches, where is Climate Crisis on the list of “issues”? https://t.co/AIOkz7fdqX
Blog post: As the UMC”™s GC2016 approaches, where is Climate Crisis on the list of “issues”? https://t.co/24wS13Fx97