I do not think the world will end because of climate change. I do think Christians have a responsibility to care for God’s creation, as good stewards. I’m both a sceptic about some of what’s predicted, and yet also acknowledge that the climate has, is and does change.
Speaking at the start of COP26, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said we were at ‘one minute to midnight’ and it was time for action. The Archbishop of Canterbury clearly felt he needed to raise the stakes when he drew a comparison between inaction over climate change and what happened in Germany when the Nazis took over. Of course, he quickly apologised for that one.
Some Christians got right behind COP26, enthusiastically praying, holding services, and supporting this major gathering of world leaders. Others, like The Tron Church in Glasgow, put a somewhat provocative sign up saying that what really mattered was preaching Christ crucified. Well, amen to that! But does it wrongly suggest that the climate should not matter to Christians at all?
The idol of autonomy in the West
If I asked you to name one of the great cultural idols of the secular Western world, what would you …