Found at – Leon LeFonque

More and more people know that the irrational use of natural resources and unchecked energy consumption contribute to climate change, and that this impacts on life and the survival of humanity created in the image of God. It is therefore tantamount to sin, says the man considered by many to be the leader of Orthodox Christians.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos I of Constantinople, who is based in Istanbul, Turkey, made his remarks in a letter released in Geneva and sent to all churches ahead of the forthcoming day of prayer for God’s creation, on September 1.

In his letter, Bartholomeos noted that a “collaboration of science and religion” is seeking to play a part in advancing an “environmental ethic, which must underline that the use of the world and the enjoyment of material goods must be made in reference to God the creator.

“Today, environmental scientists expressly emphasise that the observed climate change has the potential to disrupt and destroy the entire ecosystem, which sustains not only the human species but also the entire wondrous world of animals and plants that is interdependent upon one another like a chain,” Bartholomeos wrote. The patriarch is also sometimes known as the “Green Patriarch” because of his dedication to good stewardship of the environment.

His letter notes, “The choices and actions of what is otherwise civilised modern man have led to this tragic situation, essentially comprising a moral and spiritual problem, which the divinely inspired apostle Paul had articulated with colourful imagery in underlining its specifically ontological dimension in his letter to the Romans 19 centuries ago: ‘For creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who subjected it … For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now,’ (Romans 8:20, 22).”

Bartholomeos added that humanity is “obligated to state that this spiritual and moral dimension of the environmental problem constitutes today, perhaps more so than ever before, the common conscience of all people, and especially young people, who are well aware of the fact that all of humanity has a common destiny”.

“An increasing number of people comprehend that their overall consumption, namely, their personal involvement in the production of particular goods or their rejection of others, touches not only on ethical but also on eschatological parameters,” the patriarch wrote.

“An increasing number of people understand that the irrational use of natural resources and the unchecked consumption of energy contribute to the reality of climate change, with consequences on the life and survival of humanity created in the image of God, and is therefore tantamount to sin,” he noted.

He further remarked that an especially disturbing feature was that “the poorest and most vulnerable members of the human race are being affected by environmental problems which they did not create”.

“From Australia to the Cape Horn of Africa, we learn of regions experiencing prolonged drought, which results in the desertification of formerly fertile and productive areas, where the local populations suffer from extreme hunger and thirst. From Latin America to the heart of Eurasia, we hear of melting glaciers, on which millions of people depend for water supply,” said the Patriarch.

Taken from Insight NSW magazine

August 29

http://nsw.uca.org.au/news/2008/use-of-resources_29-08-08.htm