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title, descripton, date, author
| title | descripton | date | author |
|---|---|---|---|
| Climate justice and the Bible | You won’t find the word “climate” anywhere in the Bible, so it would be tempting to conclude that our faith has no bearing on our reaction to the climate crisis. But “justice” ? Justice turns up in the Bible a lot, right from the book of Genesis. And stewardship of creation is also mentioned – stewardship of God’s creation. We have a duty to care for the creation given to us. | 2022-06-23 | Jennifer C J Radtke |
Climate justice and the Bible
You won’t find the word “climate” anywhere in the Bible, so it would be tempting to conclude that our faith has no bearing on our reaction to the climate crisis. But “justice” ? Justice turns up in the Bible a lot, right from the book of Genesis. And stewardship of creation is also mentioned – stewardship of God’s creation. We have a duty to care for the creation given to us.
What is climate justice?
Climate change has been extensively studied, and two things are clear: it is human driven, and it will have severe impacts for human society. Those two factors make for a crisis, but alone they do not cause a problem of justice. The justice issue arises because of unequal distribution of cause and effect: those most responsible for the problem are mostly the world’s richer nations, whilst those most at risk for the effects are typically in poor nations (and/or already disadvantaged parts of society).
Let’s look at four passages from different parts of the Bible, and see what they might say about an approach to climate justice.
Matthew 6:19-34
Doesn’t the Bible say we should have faith in God to provide?
Matthew 6:25 (and the short sermon in the following verses) is sometimes cited to suggest we shouldn’t worry about climate change, because God will provide what we need. It is, depending on translation, “the Gentiles”, “unbelievers” or “pagans” who spend time worrying about material needs in the future. But Matthew 6:33 suggests something stronger than merely not worrying: we should “strive” for the “kingdom of God”, and we’ll find our needs met as well. The preceding verses offer some insight into what this might mean, starting with talk of treasure in Matthew 6:19. And strive is a strong word – it’s not a bit of homework, but a significant task that we should take seriously. “The dog ate it” won’t cut it here.