Presiding Bishop Joins 'Moral Response' to Energy Policy
Episcopal News Service. May 23, 2001 [2001-130]
James Solheim
(ENS) Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold joined 38 of the nation's church leaders in sending an open letter May 21 to President George W. Bush, Congress and the American public, calling for a moral response to the nation's energy policy.
Drawing on biblical language and invoking a moral authority, the heads of denominations and senior leaders of several faith groups described energy conservation as "a personal and public virtue--a comprehensive moral value" in their letter, "Let There Be Light: Energy Conservation and God's Creation."
The religious leaders urged Americans to "reflect carefully and speak clearly from their deepest moral and religious convictions" about the President's recently announced energy plan. Acknowledging that they were not scientists, energy experts or policymakers, the religious leaders asserted that decisions on energy policy raise "fundamental moral and religious questions."
Citing the call in Genesis to "till and to tend the garden," (Genesis 2:15), the letter argues for "a moral obligation to choose the safest, cleanest and most sustainable sources of energy to protect and preserve God's creation."
Purpose not just policy
"Far more than rolling blackouts and gasoline price increases are at stake: the future of God's creation on earth; the nature and durability of our economy; our public health and public lands; the environment and the quality of life we bequeath our children and grandchildren. We are being called to consider national purpose, not just policy," the statement said.
The statement pointed to a number of factors that complicate the issue--global warming, population growth, the aspiration of the developing world, advances in technology that make renewable energy an option. "WE must take time to engage this challenge as a moral people at a pivotal, historic moment," the religious leaders warned.
"The United States has a moral responsibility to lead a transition to a new sustainable global energy system," the statement concluded. "Everything we do to assure safe and sustainable energy domestically must at the same time promote it internationally... Preventing climate change is a preeminent expression of the faithfulness to our Creator God."
The religious leaders called on their leaders and congregants to carefully consider the moral values which "should guide our individual energy choices and by which we should judge energy policy options. In securing human wellbeing by preserving creation and promoting justice, conservation is a personal and a public virtue--a comprehensive moral value--a standard for everything we do assure energy for a wholesome way of life."
Rally urges conservation
As part of three days of meetings in Washington, representatives of environmental justice ministries from 39 states held a rally on Capitol Hill under the Genesis theme, "Let there be light."
Participants at the rally formed a "human bar graph" on the Capitol lawn to emphasize the connection between energy policy and climate change and to dramatize the disproportionate level of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States when compared with the rest of the world.
"Conservation should be the centerpiece not an afterthought, a solemn vow not a concession," said the Rev. Robert Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches which organized the rally and has been organizing climate change campaigns on the state level. "U.S. energy use is causing global warming--and the president's plan is only going to make the planet hotter."
Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Ct) told the rally that "energy and the environment are not just politics," but matters of faith. "If we believe in God the creator, we have a special responsibility toward the natural environment and toward each other as well."