Statement on the United States' Announced Withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord
The announced withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Climate Accord is not simply a violation of God’s call “for humanity (to be) creation’s caregivers,” (1) it is a violation of our call to care for one another — all of us children of God and all of us children of the earth.
The various scriptural stories of creation each emphasize the care and honor God expects the human family to extend to fellow creatures of earth and sky, indeed to the very water and soil and air on which we all rely. The various scriptural stories of God’s people establishing dwelling places emphasize human cultivation — and not exploitation — of natural resources as land is farmed and inhabited, as seas are fished and traversed. In the various scriptural stories of God’s people trading in commerce with one another, a comprehensive just exchange of goods is emphasized as the very foundation of community. The Paris Climate Accord can be seen as a contemporary expression of these fundamental truths of Christianity and of the human family’s many faith traditions. The Accord is a government-level expression of the sacred trust between God and God’s people, the sacred trust between God’s people and the common home God has given us, and the sacred trust between and among all members of the human family.
Our siblings who are already most dramatically affected by global climate change are those who will experience first and most dramatically the consequences of this violation of sacred trust. While not all persons and lands affected by climate change are the world’s poor, the overwhelming number of persons affected live in economies where resources to mitigate climate change are limited. At the same time the effects on these people and their lands are the result of exploitation at the hands of the world’s wealthiest and largest economies (2). Given that ours is the first among the nations with a disproportionate relationship between exploitation and care, the decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Accord is exceptionally grievous.
As the decision to withdraw will, by law, take effect the day after our 2020 national election, we call on our fellow citizens who are Christians, persons of others faiths and those of no faith at all to work together in the days and months ahead to:
1. seek to learn the effects of global climate change on the most vulnerable of the human family;
2. seek to understand and promote the faithful and dynamic work of the scientific and religious communities to mitigate global climate change;
3. seek to understand and influence the climate policies of multinational corporations and local businesses, state and local governments, our houses of worship, community organizations, etc.;
4. respond to God’s call for us to care for creation based on this learning in prayer and most especially in action, including personal efforts; and
5. publicly witness to actions we and our communities are taking to mitigate climate change and to help those most affected by it.
We must at once decry any and all violations of the sacred trust that governs all creation regardless of federal, state or local government. At the same we must examine ourselves and inspire change in others mindful that our greatest corporate power — as citizens of the nation with the largest economy and highest pollutant levels — is to speak through, and to, our very own elected officials.
Pastor Amandus J. Derr
Pastor Jared R. Stahler
Saint Peter’s Church
Padre Fabian Arias
Iglesia de Sion
(2) For additional economic-climate change dynamics, see The Money Farmers: How Oligarchs and Populists Milk the E.U. for Millions published in The New York Times Sunday November 3, 2109.
Saint Peter’s investment policy that divested of fossil fuels
The ELCA’s social, corporate responsibility policy