Transcript Role of Religions on CC 3

Presentation Three
Role of Religion on Climate
Change
Dedicated to Pope John Paul II
“The environment is a great repository of natural wealth, belonging to
all humanity, present and future, freely and equally. Each generation
takes the natural environment on loan, and must return it after use in as
well or better condition as when it was first borrowed.”
Centesimus Annus 107
Religion - A Powerful Tool
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Today, all religions are addressing more
consistently and faithfully how to protect
God's creation and the environment that
sustains the human family and all the
earth.
Crusades
First Crusade launched by Pope Urban II, Nov. 27,
1095, at the Council of Clermont
Pope urban marketed the crusades so brilliantly.
Some 60,000 men offered to risk their lives.
On July 15, 1099 the First Crusade captured
Jerusalem
What Religion Can Do?
Martin Luther King Jr. Obama the President
Edward O. Wilson
“The predisposition to religious belief is
the most complex and powerful force in
the human mind in all probability an
ineradicable part of human nature”
Edward O. Wilson
St. Francis of Assisi
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Make me a channel of your peace
Where there is hatred le me bring your love
Where there is injury, your pardon, Lord
880 Billion Tons of Carbon
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Safety Line 935 billion tons – 55 bt to go
8 bt per year – 4 bt depleted by carbon sinks
10 to 13 years
A Sense of Awareness and Urgency
Hypocrites! You know how to interpret
the appearance of the earth and the sky.
How is it that you don't know how to
interpret this present time? (Luke 12:
59)
We Need Paradigm Shift
Sustainable development
Man-Centered
Anthropocentric motives
Capitalism
Consumption
Sustainable retreat
Nature-Centered
Anthropocentric denials
Egalitarian Existence
Conservation
Three Paradigm Shifts
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1. Axial Age 500 BC to 100 BC
2. Jesus Christ 1 AD to 45 AD
3. Renaissance and Reformation (1300 – 1500)
4. Second Axial Age (Present)
Religions was the major player
First Shift – The Axial Age (Divergence of Religions) -Confucius,
Mencius, Lao Tzu, Gautama, Mahavir, Zoroaster, Prophets,
Pythagoras, Socrates
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2 Shift - Jesus Christ
• The Kingdom of God based on Justice and Peace
• a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love,
and peace.
3rd Shift - Crusades, Feudal Europe, Renaissance 1300 and
Reformation 1517
Modern World: Colonization, Slavery, Industrial
Revolution, World Wars, Holocaust, Global Warming
Homo scientificus – Science and Technology ,
Globalization, Yet, We are not Happier
Mater et Magistra, 198
“We are sick at heart. We are shown the fearful specter of want and misery
which threatens to extinguish human life, and on the other hand we find
scientific discoveries, technical inventions and economic resources being
used to provide terrible instruments of ruin and death. “Mother and Teacher”
(1961)
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Technological Society Destroys
disaster struck, stone tools, Neolithic Farming, Steam Engines, Nuclear
Energy, Cellphones
4th Shift
Convergence of All Religions and politics (second axial age)
A Generational Mission
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Human Achievements: not science and technology, but
becoming compassionate, humble, simple
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Becoming Human is Generational Mission
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Moving Toward a Golden Age of Humanity
The Second Axial Age – The Generational Mission
Convergence of All Religions against First Axial Age
Earth Summit, 1992
 In 1992 more than 100 heads of the state met in
Rio de Janeiro, First International Earth
Summit
 Environmental protection and socioeconomic
development
 Leaders signed the Convention on Biological
Diversity
Kyoto Protocol, 1997
• Global Warming
• Mitigation of Greenhouse Gases
• Substantial Outcome
Copenhagen, 2009 - Politics Failed
Only One Option: Religion
Durban, South Africa, 2011
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Sustainable Development
First, no more than 2 degrees C out of 4 C
Second, for the first time will require the big emerging economies
China, India and Brazil, to make legally binding commitments
(Mitigation)
Third, established a new Green Climate Fund will provide vital
support to the poor countries to reduce their emissions and adapt to
the climate change they are already experiencing. (Adaptation)
Sustainable Development
 Economic sustainability
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Technological sustainability
Social sustainability
Environmental sustainability
Value sustainability
 Products are matched to market
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demand
Technologies should be upgradable
Bring positive change
Should mitigate greenhouse gases
Guided by moral values
The Power of Religions
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2 Billion Christians
1 Billion Plus Muslims
1 Billion Hindus
350 Million Buddhists
20 Million Sikhs
4 Million Jews
1 Billion – Pope Benedict XVI: Leadership?
Social Teachings
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Rerum novarum
Gaudium et Spes
Populorum progressio
Mater et magistra
Octogesima adveniens
Justicia in mundo
Redemptor hominis
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Laborem excercens
Sollicitudo rei socialis
Centesimus annus
Caritas in veritate
Justice and peace-Integrity of
creation
Local efforts in dioceses
Ecoparish - A Centre for Compassion
and Conservation
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Reduce
Reuse
Recycle
Reject
Five Pillars of Islam
Holy Quran
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Appeals to Compassion and Conservation
If Islamic world choose to stop oil export,
this world will be a better place
Leadership?
Hinduism – Non Violence
Hindu-Jain-Buddha-Sikh-Farsi
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Vedas, Upanishad
Ramayana, Mahabharata
Bhagawad Gita
But ‘Rush to Riches,’ to technology and
development puts pressure on land, water, air
and life
Every Year 18 Million added to fragile
Earth – 1.25 Billion and Still Growing
Buddhism - Leadership
China
Non-believers also can use the human
resources of Compassion and Conservation
 Compassion and Conservation can be a
driving force behind economic progress
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Can Religions Stop GW?
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Temperatures will increase 2 to 4 degrees
Celsius at the end of this century (IPCC)
Politics can cut 2 degrees Celsius
 All other Religions 2 degrees Celsius
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Eliminate Domination in All its Forms
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Society marked by inequalities, hierarchies, discrimination,
slavery, exploitation will treat environment in same way
Decent, sane, egalitarian society will treat environment it inhabits
sane & respectful way
The way humanity treats the environment influences the way it
treats itself, and vice versa. This invites contemporary society to a
serious review of its lifestyle. CV 4, 51
Return to Mother-What Women can do!
 Mothers Speak when the “Mother Principle is Crucified.”
 Hildegard of Bingen – Cosmic Awareness
 Mechtild of Magdeburg - Panentheism
 Julian of Norwich – Motherhood of God
 Meister Eckhart – Goodness of Creation
Religion Can Give Head Start
• Sustainable Development to Sustainable Retreat
• Environmental Revolution (collectively)
• Mutiny (individually)
Environmental Revolution by Religions
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Anthropocentrism
Steward
Greed
Consumption
Rationalism
Democracy
Dominion
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Capitalism
Biocentrism
Servant
Need
Compassion
Mysticism
Cosmic Democracy
Creation-Centered Spirituality
Egalitarianism
Environmental Revolution Versus AR and IR
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Agricultural revolution,
population increase
IR, steam engine driven by
technological advances
IR, shift toward fossil fuel
IR, a shift toward Consumption
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ER will dramatically alter
population trends
ER use of new technologies, so
economy does not destroy earth
ER shift away from fossil fuels
ER is shift away from
Consumption
Creation Mutiny of Individuals
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Mutiny against Consumption
Mutiny against Domination in all its Forms
Mutiny against Greed, Corruption, Violence
Mutiny against Carnivorous Habits
Geo-Engineering and
Climate Engineering
Reduce albedo effect = reflecting the sunlight to space
Playing with clouds - atomise sea water (Flettner ships)
A Parasol in space – shade the planet (mirror clouds)
Fertiliser for the sea – growth of plankton (zooplankton)
Sulphur dioxide mist – transport by hose to
staratosphere, also by jumbo jets
UN and Religions should develop a healthy relationship with poverty, hunger,
weeping (Blessings: Jesus)
These elements keep balance on earth
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Poverty, hunger, chastity should become choices
It’s OKAY to be poor – Blessed are the poor
For 2 billion = took all the resources of the earth
For other 5 billion = Mars, Venus and Mercury
Sustainable retreat to indigenous model of progress
Amish People
Book of Job Ends in Divine Diagnosis
Job the patient
In the end, Job acknowledges the
Justice and sovereignty of God in
his life and receives back more than
he had before his trials
Finally We’ve Learned a Lesson?
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Book of Job demonstrates the profound human struggle
between anthropology and cosmology
In the end, cosmology does not defeat anthropology;
rather cosmology opens its arms to welcome back
anthropology, its prodigal son
Anthropocentric Job Goes Biocentric 42: 10 -15
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“I had heard of you by word of mouth, but now my eyes
have seen you …” Job 42: 5
And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job.
The man after the process is different from the man
before the process
At Last Man Realizes : It is not the
Earth, it’s the Man the Patient
Creation is the Face of God
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“In Him we live, move and have our Being” Acts 17:28
We are Part of Creation
All Life on Earth is found Good by God Himself
Ultimately, Man has to understand and arrive at the denial of
Anthropocentric Motives, and go Green (Biocentric, Ecocentric)
• We encounter God when we encounter creation; its beauty is an expression of
the beauty of God. The relationship we have with the natural world is a
relationship with God.
Pope Benedict Calls for a New Covenant
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After pondering responsibly the road to be taken, decisions
aimed at strengthening that covenant between human beings
and the environment …
Until we restore a spiritual covenant with the earth, we will
forever roll the environmental stone up a mountain of
frustration. CV 4, 50
Eco-Warrior
Prodigal Son turned Good Samaritan
Lk 15: 11-32; Lk: 10: 25-37
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Jesus recommends Compassion
And he said, “he who showed compassion on him.”
Then Jesus said to him “Go and do the same thing”
(Luke 10: 37)
Mathew 5: 7
Blessed are the merciful
For they shall obtain mercy
Jesus the Conservationist
• The Parable of the Lost Sheep symbolizes the
conservation of endangered species
• “The thief does not come except to steal and to kill,
and to destroy. I have come that they may have life,
and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:
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Deuteronomy 30: 15
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“See, I set before you today life and
prosperity, death and destruction”
Future Depends on Religions
With religions as a new members in the
struggle for a better environment, one can
only hope that the people have become
more conscious to save our next
generation from the dangers of our own
mistakes.
“If You Want to
Cultivate Peace,
Protect
Creation”
• Pope Benedict XVI
Book of Revelation 21:5
He who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I
am making everything new!”
 Therefore, GW and CC must be a New Creation, a
change from beauty (nasty) to beauty
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Psalm 90:1-2
Let us Pray!
 “Lord, You’ve been our refuge in every generation. Before the
mountains were born, before you gave birth to the Earth and the
universe, from everlasting to everlasting, you are our God.”
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