VIRGINIA/SOUTHERN VIRGINIA: Faith leaders push senators on climate legislation
Episcopal News Service. June 3, 2010 [060310-03]
ENS staff
More than 100 religious leaders from across Virginia June 2 signed on to and delivered a letter to U.S. Democratic Senators Jim Webb's and Mark R. Warner's Richmond staffs in advance of the Senate's upcoming consideration of climate and energy legislation, according to a news release issued by Virginia and Greater Washington Interfaith Power & Light.
"As religious leaders from across the Commonwealth, we are writing to express our alarm at the state of environmental stewardship here in Virginia, and nationwide," the letter states. "For us as people of faith, this is an issue of basic fairness and justice; not only because we are called to care for creation, but because of who will be harmed most by inaction: the poor and voiceless."
The letter makes a moral case for comprehensive climate legislation that includes strong emission reductions, international adaptation assistance, and protections for low-income families. While some interfaith leaders, including Episcopalians, visited the senators' staffs in Richmond, others called on the senators' Washington, D.C. offices to deliver their message.
"This world is God's creation, beloved and whole, and we are charged with its care," said the Rev. Mollie Douglas Turner, associate rector of Bruton Parish Episcopal Church in Williamsburg, in a news release.
The clergy who joined this effort hail from all over Virginia and represent five religious traditions -- Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Unitarian Universalism and seven denominations of Christianity.
"Our senators might get the impression from recent headlines that the basic science of climate change remains controversial in our state," says Joseph R. Stanley III, director of Virginia Interfaith Power & Light. "But the fact that more than 100 local leaders of sacred communities are acting together speaks volumes. For them, the facts are in. They see what's happening to our world. Climate change is real, and they feel called as people of faith to respond."
The letter, which is signed by Southern Virginia Bishop Holly Hollerith, grew out of an effort that was convened jointly by the Virginia and Greater Washington Interfaith Power & Light programs. It was initially circulated by five clergy: Imam Johari Abdul-Malik, director of community outreach for Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church; the Rev. Morris Hudgins, interim minister of Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church-Unitarian Universalist in Charlottesville; United Methodist Bishop Charlene Kammerer of the Virginia Conference; the Rev. Janet Parker, pastor for parish life at Rock Spring Congregational United Church of Christ in Arlington; and Rabbi Jeffrey Saxe of Temple Rodef Shalom in Falls Church.
"When you ask the pastors, rabbis, and imams who joined this letter why they signed on, not one of them mentions politics. It's much bigger than politics," said Joelle Novey, the director of Greater Washington Interfaith Power & Light, which works with congregations across Northern Virginia. "We are calling on Senators Webb and Warner to pass comprehensive climate legislation out of a sense of moral responsibility to care for our neighbors and for creation. And we are asking that any legislation do right by the poor around the world and close to home."