Sunday, June 02, 2013

Faith vs Fossil Fuels

While re-watching Bill McKibben's Do the Math movie online, one of youtube's 'related videos' was Bill McKibben's address to faith communities.



A religious man himself, Bill McKibben observes that
Faith communities are the place we go to think about ourselves as a people. To think about eternity in some sense. To think about all those who will come after.

He encourages faith communities to do as the NSW Uniting Church has done, and divest from fossil fuel companies. He describes this as
A strong swift way to register our discontent with those forces, those powers and principalities, that are doing everything they can to undermine everything good on this sweet earth

For the polluting of the atmosphere, and "subverting our democracy" to prevent anyone from stopping them, Bill McKibben describes the fossil fuel industry as the planetary equivalent of tobacco industry. As such, faith communities should withdraw on moral grounds.
I can't promise you that this will work, but even if I could promise you that it won't work - you should still participate in this. If it's wrong to wreck the climate, it's wrong to profit from that wreckage.

It is not ok to pay the pastor's retirement account or to fund the building project for the church by investing in companies that are running Genesis backward.


PS. For more of Bill McKibben on faith matters, see his article regarding the bizarre theology that it would hurt God's feelings if we didn't open his 'gift' of fossil fuels. (Yes there are actually people saying that kind of stuff!)

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