Georgia Religious Leaders Statement
We, members of the Georgia faith community, greet you, our sisters and brothers, on behalf of God's creation. We, who are dedicated to the health and habitat of our own state, are also citizens of the world. We are heartened by efforts of the nations of the world to address the threat of accelerating climate change. We view this as an inescapable religious challenge, which dramatically reminds us of God’s call to faithful stewardship.
We, the undersigned, leaders in various faith groups within Georgia, recognize that our Divine Creator has given to humanity a special responsibility to be good stewards of the Earth. Our mutual concern in the area enables us to speak and act together in addressing the harmful effects of human-induced environmental climate change.
Although there is some disagreement within the scientific community as to how severe and how imminent a danger is facing the people of the world from human-induced environmental climate change, there is almost unanimous agreement that the problem is critical enough to require changes in personal and corporate lifestyle and in some governmental policies.
As people of faith whom God calls to be stewards of creation, we are eager to join you in the Georgia Interfaith Environmental Climate Change Initiative. Let us each resolve to seek concrete steps we may take individually and corporately to minimize the threat to our environment. Let us encourage one another in our mutual quest for justice and compassion for all people. Let us hold each other and our leaders accountable for our actions so that future generations will be assured of a healthier, more sustainable environment.
SIGNATORIES
Ed Albright, Executive Presbyter, Presbytery of Greater Atlanta,
Presbyterian Church USA
Bishop Alexious, Greek Orthodox Diocese of Atlanta Maajid Fahem Ali, Imaam Savannah
Muslim Congregation
Rabbi Arnold Belzer,Congregation Mikve Israel, Savannah
Kevin Boland, Bishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah
James Choomack, Executive Presbyter, Cherokee Presbytery, Presbyterian Church
USA
Leland C. Collins, Executive Director, Georgia Christian Council
Lindsay Davis, Bishop, North Georgia Area of The United Methodist Church
John T. Donoghue, Archbishop, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta
Timothy Downs, Regional Minister, United Church of Christ
Rabbi Brett Issarow, Atlanta Temple
Othal Lakey, Bishop, Sixth Episcopal District of the Christian Methodist Eiscopal
Church
Lanis Lewis, State Observer, Church of God of Prophesy
Richard Looney, Immediate Past Bishop, South Georgia Area of The United Methodist
Church
Henry Louttit, Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Georgia
Kenyon T. Meeks, Executive Presbyter, Northeast Georgia Presbytery, Presbyterian
Church USA
Tom Neal, Regional Minister, Christian Church (Disciples) in Georgia
Greg Owens, Executive Director, Christian Council of Metopolitan Atlanta
Floyd Rhodes, Synod Executive, Synod of the Southeast, Presbyterian Church USA
Carl Schlich, Executive Presbyter, Savannah Presbytery, Presbyterian Church
USA
Robert G. Tharp, Interim Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta
Gerald T. Voye, Executive Presbyter, Flint River Presbytery, Presbyterian Church
USA
Ronald White, Executive Director, Georgia Baptist Convention
1. Proposed goals for campaign to have accomplished by December 31, 2001:
a. Three regional Georgia meetings: Savannah October 3-4, 2000; Macon January 23-24, 2001; Metro Atlanta April 30-May 1, 2001.
b. Five op-ed articles placed in Georgia newspapers by faith and science leaders.
c. Two hundred congregations to use the Global Climate Change bulletin insert.
d. One hundred and fifty Georgia congregations to use the Bible Study, “It’s God’s World” or similar resource.
e. Fifty congregations to make a commitment to use less energy.
f. Eight judicatories/faith groups to sponsor workshops on Climate Change using the resources of the Georgia Climate Change Initiative.
g. Thirty letters to elected officials on climate change.
2. Tasks each participant might accomplish:
a. An energy audit in his/her church building.
b. Send press release to local newspapers/radio stations.
c. Encourage his/her home congregation to use bulletin inserts.
d. Encourage the use of the Bible Study material.
Proposed Campaign Strategy Goals
e. Write or contact elected officials.
f. Become as well educated as is possible on the climate change issue.
g. Be willing to work with the Steering Committee for the Georgia Initiative and serve as a liaison to their own faith community.
3. The ongoing work of the Georgia Campaign:
Continue the campaign with whatever organization is most effective with particular emphasis on broad based participation. Follow up activities will include:
a. Encouraging judicatories and congregations to use the bulletin inserts and Bible study as educational resources on this issue.
b. Promoting the appropriate use of the Energy Stewardship Program
c. Be a resource for congregations, judicatories, and other groups addressing the issue of climate change as a faith issue.
d. Promoting responsible advocacy with elected officials and corporate decision makers.
"Local Religious Leaders Take a Stand on Global Warming"
By Gail Krueger for the Savannah Morning News
President Bush's backpedaling on his pledge to limit carbon dioxide emissions leaves some local religious leaders with a bad taste.
"It flies in the face of his promise to be a compassionate conservative and to rule from the middle," said Rabbi Arnold Belzer of Congregation Mikve Israel.
Belzer was one of five Savannah religious readers who last year signed a pact to take action on global climate change at a meeting in Ebenezer. The group, the Georgia Christian Council's Interfaith Environmental Climate Change Initiative 2001, issued a statement Sunday lamenting Bush's actions in taking back his pledge to support the Kyoto global warming treaty.
"Our overuse of energy has resulted in the greenhouse effect. We need to take our part in reducing the emissions that cause the effect," said Carl Schlich, executive presbyter of the Savannah Presbytery.
"We have unilaterally backed off while the rest of the world is sticking to it. As a religious leader, I'm concerned that we act as stewards of the environment and as an American, I'm embarrassed we backed off on our word."
The Kyoto Protocol is a 1997 international agreement in which many nations agreed to cut their emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. Most European nations have ratified the agreement, but the United States has not.
Bush has said he could not support the agreement because it might harm the U.S. economy and worsen the nation's deteriorating energy situation without significantly reducing global warming. He also has complained that the pact would not require similar emission reductions in other countries -- such as China and Mexico -- that compete with the United States in some markets.
Belzer and Schlich said they believe it is well within the realm of faith for religious leaders to take a stand on such policy issues.
"We don't own this planet, the Lord said we are to take good care of it," Belzer said.
Other local religious leaders who signed the Environmental Climate Change Initiative include Maajid Fahem Ali, Imaan Savannah Muslin Congregation; Bishop Kevin Boland of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah; and Henry Louttit of Savannah's Episcopal Diocese of Savannah.
The Georgia Christian Council is urging the president and Congress to address the issue of global warming in a responsible way, said Leland Collins, Macon-based coordinator, for the group. The organization issued a statement in October signed by 22 of Georgia's religious leaders calling global warming 'critical enough to require changes in personal and corporate lifestyle and in some governmental policies."
The interfaith group is asking religious leader to ask their congregations to write to legislators about their concerns and to take action in their own lives such as adjusting thermostats to use less power, Collins said.
"Our concern is not so much the Kyoto protocol in particular -- there is good as well as flaws in that -- as it is in getting good science to the heart of the real situation and not getting caught up in extremism on both sides. Our faith requires us to deal responsibly with the environment. Let's do what we can to make the future a better place."
The council will hold another meeting on climate change and other environmental issues later this year.
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"Atlanta Interfaith Climate Change Campaign Training Event Strongly Supported
by the Environmental Community and African-Americans"
The Georgia Interfaith Climate Change Initiative
held its fourth training event, October 28-29, 2001. The conference was held
at First Iconium Baptist Church, an African-American congregation in Atlanta.
This event had the largest representation of people of color (about fifty percent),
in leadership roles and as participants, at any state training event! The event
occurred over two days – on Sunday as A Call to Prayer for the Earth and
on Monday as a Call to Action for the Earth.
On Sunday afternoon, First Iconium Baptist Church provided
marvelous hospitality for the gathering of about one hundred participants and
leaders! The Rev. Timothy McDonald, pastor, and the adult choir led a spirit-filled
worship service that included African and Native-American drums, faith teachings
from nine different traditions including Jewish, Moslem and Native-American,
hymns, short scripture readings, prayer, and the video, "God's Creation
and Global Warming." A children's group, Kids Against Pollution, wearing
their "Clean Air Now" t-shirts, also sang and read the history of
the international meetings on climate change. At the end the Native American
drummers were so moved by the congruence of concern that they sang an "honor
song" for the assembled participants.
On Monday, about eighty-five participants listened to lectures
from various scientific and practical viewpoints concerning the impact of global
climate change. Lecturers came from the Morehouse School of Medicine, the Emory
University Rollins School of Public Health, Spelman College and Southface Energy
Institute, a local nonprofit leader in energy efficiency. In the afternoon various
workshops were given talking about practical ways to get involved in the response
to global climate change. At the end of the afternoon, the participants gathered
to summarize the day and get organized for future action.
Various environmental organizations, from local nonprofits
to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, sponsored exhibits that did
a brisk business throughout the event. There was also a resource table and a
table for the purchase of books.
Sponsors of the event included the Atlanta Faith and Environment Connection, Concerned Black Clergy, Earthkeepers, the Eco-Justice Working Group, First Iconium Baptist Church, Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, Georgia Interfaith Climate Change Initiative, Green Friends of Atlanta Friends Meeting, Morehouse School of Medicine, The Christian Council of Metropolitan Atlanta, The Georgia Christian Council, the United Nations Association/Atlanta, and ZAP Asthma.
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