I am thinking that our churches need to be thinking about how to craft a message that has any shot at communicating the enormity of the ethical implications of the Climate Crisis. I am thinking about , on this July 4, about the speech made by the fictional President (played by Bill Pullman) in the film “independence Day”, and his redefining of the meaning of Independence Day as not just for one country, but for the entire human race. His rallying cry had a distinct advantage (well, two: it was pure fiction, so the outcome is totally in the hands of the screenwriter). The advantage to which I refer is the stark reality of the threat. It was undeniable and obvious to everyone. The job of communicating the realities of the Crisis is met with the challenge of overcoming what  Cynthia D. Moe-Lobeda identifies in her book “Resisting Structural Evil: Love as Ecological-Economic Vocation“.

This is an older problem. It is the problem if our individualist ideologies, which have infected and obscured some rather profound truths: That, as MLK put it quite frequently: That everything is INTER-related. Our “morality” is tied up in the structures in which we operate, and in which we PARTICIPATE. To face the realities of our SINS of PARTICIPATION (and thus PERPETUATION) of STRUCTURAL EVIL is often too confronting for us to accept. The Christian Right is particularly vulnerable, given their propensity, especially on days like this one, toward American exceptionalism, which obscures and refuses to recognize the Structural Evils resulting from too much exuberance (the other side of the coin of “too little discernment” and “too much individualist theology” (that which I associate with the “Gnostic problem”. But this denial of our culpability is not the exclusive domain of the Right. It is operative on the Left as we cling to the lifestyle we consider to be our reality, and so we pay fealty to the science, and “reject” the “Climate deniers” amongst the Republicans and Right wing Christians, but persist in our own psychological denial that things are really so serious, and that it REALLY CAN’T continue is something we just continue to shove aside. The mainline churches pay this fealty to the Climate Science, but continue on with “other” business. Their “Business as usual”. They do decent, constant coverage on a range of social issues and justice matters. But the awareness of a Climate Crisis is just NOT THERE. I’m wondering when, at what point, will it be obvious enough for us to have someone in leadership say to us: “once again, we will be fighting for our freedom. Not from tyranny, oppression or persecution, but from annihilation. We’re fighting for our right to live.” (Only it’s not exactly a “Right”, but a responsibility we share)