Religious Traditions Call for Climate Action
By Leigh Rogers*
At least 10 religions and 13 countries were represented at the Global Interfaith Gathering, a religious service and call to action to the Summit on Climate Change being held at the United Nations. The event was held across the street from the UN at Tillman Chapel in the Church Center for the United Nations (CCUN), a building owned and operated by the Women’s Division of the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries.
The Gathering initiated the launch of Climate Week, starting on Sept. 20, the week during which global leaders gather in New York City at the United Nations to discuss the crucial issue of climate change.
At Tillman Chapel, representatives of religious traditions urged world leaders to attend the upcoming climate change summit in Copenhagen, Denmark and make climate change a priority worth taking action upon.
The Committee of Religious NGOs at the United Nations (of which the Women’s Division is a member), the Office the Chaplaincy at CCUN, Religions for Peace, New York Interfaith Power & Light organized the event. It was co-sponsored by 39 other faith-based organizations.
“We urge those making decisions at the tables of government power to insist that the voices of those nations and peoples most affected by climate change and with the least choice be at their deliberations to serve as a visible witness that the climate crisis is now,” read a Call to Action statement.
United Methodist Women participation in this event highlights the growing need to act on climate change from a faith-based perspective. Currently, United Methodist Women’s “Countdown to Copenhagen” initiative strives to build awareness among people of faith of the critical need for compassionate, bold action on climate change, which is damaging God’s creation and imposing unjust burdens on the poor around the world.
Below, photos from the event. All photos by Felipe Castillo.
▲ Ms. Satkirin Kaur Khalsa led the pre-service music. A minister of Sikh Dharma, she is also a Kirtan Chant artist.
▲ Nigel Savage, founder of Hazon, the largest environmental organization in the Jewish community. He blew the shofar, a sacred and ancient horn, to announce the alarm of climate change that will “cut through words to the heavens.”
▲ From left, Constance Okollet, a community activist from Uganda, the Rev. Kathleen Stone, Chaplain at CCUN, and Mehrezia Labidi-Maiza, co-president of Religions for Peace, pray in silence. Ms. Okollet witnessed on her experience of draught and flooding in Uganda while Ms. Labidi-Maiza responded. Click here to watch video clips of their witness and response.
▲ His Holiness Tep Vong, a Buddhist monk from Cambodia, the first person in over a century to hold the title of The Great Supreme Patriarch of the Kingdom of Cambodia, called for “joining hands together for the protection of nature.”
*Leigh Rogers is a public relations executive with the Women’s Division of the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries.