Evangelicals and Catholics: “The Battles we are Fighting to Promote Climate Justice are not Simply our Own, They are God’s”

Sojourners is a monthly magazine and a daily online publication created by an American Christian social justice organization made up of “Evangelicals, Catholics, Pentecostals, and Protestants; progressives and conservatives.” [1] On March 11, 2023, Sojourners expressed that the battle against climate change is God’s fight, not just ours. The statement read:

“When I confront my own weakness and vulnerability, I often have my most intimate encounters with God. I’m forced to more fully lean on God’s grace and rely less on my own will. It’s a pretty countercultural message in our power-hungry culture, even in social justice movements: We organize and plan and work hard to build the Beloved Community, yet our weaknesses make us grapple with the fact that we can’t do this work alone — and we may not see the full fruits of our struggles. The battles we are fighting to combat racism and sexism, end poverty, promote climate justice, protect our democracy, and so much more are not simply our own; they are God’s.” [2]

Evangelicals and Catholics of all faiths and ideologies are uniting around the issue of climate justice while invoking God’s name in their fight. This is precisely what Pope Francis has urged in Laudato Si’, his encyclical on climate change. In order to address social issues, especially the climate crisis, the Pope wants to bring all the churches together into one big family.

“The urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change” (Laudato Si’ #13).

“We need to strengthen the conviction that we are one single human family. There are no frontiers or barriers, political or social, behind which we can hide” (Laudato Si’ #52).

More and more churches and religious organizations have become increasingly engaged in combating climate change. They see the so-called climate crisis as the new moral imperative. However, the work of sustainable development and reaching net zero greenhouse gases is much more than just achieving clean air and water. There are a wide range of sweeping changes that we are told will need to be made. The plan is a complete overhaul of our economy, energy systems, transportation, building construction practices, agriculture, food production, and business strategies.

We are told that since consumerism—buying and selling—is a direct result of human activity, which also causes climate change, our way of life must be altered. We have been taught that political structures and climate change are closely related. This means that government action is required in order to drive the climate policies needed to reverse climate change. Everything must change, and everyone must get on board.

But that is not enough. Religion plays a significant role in the climate crisis. Therefore, the churches need to come together in unity and provide a moral framework that encourages people to care for the environment. That is the foundational message in Laudato Si’:

“The work of the Church seeks not only to remind everyone of the duty to care for nature, but at the same time “she must above all protect mankind from self-destruction”. (Laudato Si’ #79).

“All Christian communities have an important role to play in ecological education.” (Laudato Si’ #214).

Pope Francis believes that churches and religious organizations need to be active in promoting policies and other measures that deal with the climate crisis. In response to this call, a large number of faith-based organizations have established alliances and coalitions to promote climate action and increase public awareness of the so-called moral and ethical dimensions of the problem. The following is just a short list of a few examples of international Protestant, Catholic, and ecumenical organizations that are committed to climate change action. There are many others as well, all working to promote environmental stewardship and sustainability from a faith-based perspective:

1. World Evangelical Alliance – The World Evangelical Alliance is a network of 600 million evangelical Christians in over 130 countries. This organization has a plan to mobilize its community to take action on climate change through its Creation Care Task Force (CCTF). They work to educate people about the moral and spiritual dimensions of the climate crisis and advocate for policies to protect the environment. [3]

2. World Council of Churches – The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a global fellowship of Christian churches, representing over 500 million Christians in more than 110 countries. The WCC has a strong commitment to ecological justice and climate advocacy. They have called for urgent action to address the climate crisis. [4]

3. Anglican Communion Environmental Network – The Anglican Communion Environmental Network is the global climate network of the Anglican Church, with over 80 million members in more than 165 countries. They place a strong emphasis on the need for urgent climate action. [5]

4. Evangelical Environmental Network – This organization is a coalition of evangelical Christians who advocate for creation care and climate action. They work to educate evangelicals about the science of climate change and to promote policies that protect the environment and human health. [6]

5. Young Evangelicals for Climate Action – This organization is a group of young evangelicals who are passionate about climate justice. They advocate for policies that protect the environment, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and address the needs of vulnerable communities. [7]

6. Adventist Development and Relief Agency – The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) is a humanitarian agency operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. ADRA has also joined the chorus in calling for “immediate climate action to avoid future catastrophes.” [8]

7. Creation Justice Ministries – This organization seeks to inspire and equip Christians to protect, restore, and rightly share God’s creation. They advocate for policies that protect the environment, support renewable energy, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. [9]

8. ACT Alliance – ACT Alliance is a coalition of over 150 churches and faith-based organizations working in more than 120 countries. They are committed to climate justice and work to support communities that are affected by climate change. [10]

9. Green Faith – Green Faith is an interfaith organization that works with religious leaders and communities to promote environmental stewardship and sustainability. They have a strong focus on climate action and work to mobilize religious communities to advocate for policies that protect the environment and address the climate crisis. [11]

10. Climate Sunday – Climate Sunday is a coalition of 31 denominations and charities, including Protestant and Catholic churches. This is an agency of the members of the Environmental Issues Network (EIN) of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI). The coalition is committed to promoting the Climate Sunday campaign, which encourages churches to set aside Sunday to teach about the environment. [12]

11. Green Sabbath Project – The Green Sabbath Project is dedicated to establishing a weekly day of rest for the earth so as to minimize the environmental impact on the planet. [13]

12. Rome – The Roman Catholic Church, with over 1.3 billion members, is the largest and best-funded global organization that is leading the war against climate change. Pope Francis, the spiritual head of the Roman Catholic Church, is in charge of this massive campaign. The Catholic Church has strong coalitions of entities that are advancing the Pope’s global Catholic climate movement, including the Catholic Climate Covenant, Caritas International, the Franciscan Action Network, the Laudato Si’ Movement, and more than 900 other Catholic organizations that are dedicated to advancing the Pope’s climate message. [14]

The result of the churches joining forces with Rome to advance the Pope’s climate agenda is clear to us. It’s a ruse. It’s a cunning and deceptive movement that is manipulating society with hysteria and fear-mongering designed to bring us to the Sunday law crisis. This is exactly what inspiration tells us:

“The Sunday movement is now making its way in darkness. The leaders are concealing the true issue, and many who unite in the movement do not themselves see whither the undercurrent is tending. Its professions are mild and apparently Christian, but when it shall speak it will reveal the spirit of the dragon” (Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 452).

“There is a satanic force propelling the Sunday movement, but it is concealed. Even the men who are engaged in the work, are themselves blinded to the results which will follow their movement” (Review and Herald, January 1, 1889).

“They will point to calamities on land and sea—to the storms of wind, the floods, the earthquakes, the destruction by fire—as judgments indicating God’s displeasure because Sunday is not sacredly observed. These calamities will increase more and more, one disaster will follow close upon the heels of another; and those who make void the law of God will point to the few who are keeping the Sabbath of the fourth commandment as the ones who are bringing wrath upon the world” (Signs of the Times, January 17, 1884).

“It will be declared that men are offending God by the violation of the Sunday-sabbath, that this sin has brought calamities which will not cease until Sunday observance shall be strictly enforced, and that those who present the claims of the fourth commandment, thus destroying reverence for Sunday, are troublers of the people, preventing their restoration to divine favor and temporal prosperity” (Great Controversy, p. 590).

This is a topic that many Seventh-day Adventists are struggling to recognize. And our failure to heed God’s warning on this matter is causing us to take a stand on the wrong side. Two important points are made about the Sunday law crisis in the Spirit of Prophecy statements above. (1) Sunday laws will come through stealth, meaning that they will be mixed in with other issues to conceal their true nature. (2) Climate disasters will be given as one of the main reasons for establishing these Sunday laws. We are closer than we realize to the final crisis and the return of Christ. The warnings that God has given us are more accurate and applicable now than they have ever been.

Sources

[1] https://sojo.net/about/about-sojourners

[2] https://sojo.net/articles/finding-gods-rest-season-blah

[3] https://www.weacreationcare.org/who-we-are

[4] https://www.oikoumene.org/what-we-do/care-for-creation-and-climate-justice

[5] https://acen.anglicancommunion.org/

[6] https://creationcare.org/

[7] https://yecaction.org/

[8] https://adra.eu/adra-europe-offices-call-on-immediate-climate-action-to-avoid-future-catastrophes/

[9] https://www.creationjustice.org/

[10] https://actalliance.org/

[11] https://greenfaith.org/

[12] https://www.climatesunday.org/

[13] https://www.greensabbathproject.net/

[14] https://web.archive.org/web/20200206075002/https://catholicclimatemovement.global/member-organizations/