The world is in the midst of a climate change crisis with the average temperature for oceans the highest on record, and extreme heat and rain recorded across the globe this year.
The science community has long railed against inaction, but climate change is not just a scientific issue.
For many religious people in Australia, it’s also a moral one.
Religious leaders are asking what the future of religion looks like in a world with a vastly changing climate.
Some believe that action on climate change will soon be at the forefront of religious practice.
And prominent faith leaders from different religions and denominations are starting to take action, banding together across the country.
Changing the future of religious worship
The multi-faith Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (ARRCC) unites religious communities for climate justice.
Climate change is such an “overwhelming and massive” issue that its impact on religion is inevitable, says Tejopala Rawls, one of the ARRCC’s organisers.
“I just don’t see how a religion can remain relevant if it doesn’t address [the climate crisis],” he says.
Rawls, who is an ordained Buddhist, says the concept of universal love and kindness within Buddhism motivates him to push for a more sustainable future.
“There’s … the idea of the Bodhisattva [who is] the being who works for the benefit of all. That’s probably the biggest motivator for me,” he says.
“I think all Buddhists [and] all religions attempt to help people in some way.”
Climate change action is the kind of help he’s prioritising; it’s a passion he has put his body on the line for.
In 2018, Rawls was arrested at the site of mining company Adani’s proposed coal mine in Central Queensland, along with several other faith leaders.
The protesters were calling for the coal mine to halt production because of their concerns about impacts to the local ecosystem, and they refused a move-on order by police.
Rawls says the demonstration didn’t just get the media’s attention, it got Adani’s too.
“I think [Adani] suddenly realised that they were on notice,” he says.
Indeed, Rawls says Adani officials asked to meet with him and the other protesting religious leaders to hear and allay their concerns.
“They were attempting to persuade us they were good, responsible corporate citizens, and we should back off,” Rawls says.
He’s not sure what impact the meeting had on the Adani officials. Construction of the Adani mine officially began in 2020 and production is still powering ahead.
But Rawls is pleased to think his group caught the company’s attention and that its officials felt “they needed to talk to us”.
Faith communities ‘really care about this’
Rawls says the ARRCC has shifted its focus from community campaigning to political and corporate advocacy.
“[Taking action] is so urgent now. Anyone who reads the science would be able to tell you that,” Rawls says.
His organisation is pushing for politicians to take more action and for companies, like banks, to stop investing in coal.
Last year, the ARRCC organised several multi-faith events to demand a greater commitment to climate change from the Australian government.
The requests were laid out in a letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, calling for a stop to new coal gas projects.
The letter was signed by 100 First Nations and religious leaders.
“It was a pretty much a who’s who of Australian religious leaders all saying to the prime minister, you really need to lift your game on this,” Rawls says.
In the lead-up to the 2022 federal election, the ARRCC targeted MPs in marginal electorates, urging them to embrace meaningful climate change policies.
“It’s very clear that faith communities really care about this. They all want much stronger action on climate change,” Rawls says.
Faith and the environment
According to a 2021 report from Tearfund Australia, a Christian relief and advocacy organisation, 85 per cent of Australia’s church leaders want to encourage their church community to take action on climate change.
The study, entitled They Shall Inherit The Earth, surveyed a wide range of young and adult Christians from across the country about their attitudes towards climate change and the role of the church in taking action to address it.
It shows more than three in five Christians say they’re very concerned about climate change.
Among younger Christians, 86 per cent say they want action to address the problem.
US research, released in 2022, shows that 72 per cent of people who belong to non-Christian religions — including Islam, Judaism and Buddhism — say global climate change is a very serious problem.
Sureka Goringe, National Director of Uniting World, the international aid agency of the Uniting Church in Australia, says climate change is redefining what it means to be a “good Christian”.
Dr Goringe tells ABC RN’s Soul Search that, “you need to pray, read the Bible and be good”.
“[But] you can’t be a good Christian if you are not [upholding] your responsibility … in the environmental space.”
She argues it’s easier to take action than many realise.
“It’s as little as whether you recycle and are conscientious about your consumption, all the way through to … your superannuation [being] invested in ethical funds,” Dr Goringe says.
Natural disasters ‘a consequence of human behaviour’
Dr Goringe says climate change throws up deep philosophical and existential questions. Some people are seeking answers to those questions from their religion.
For example, there have been several significant natural disasters, including tropical cyclones, earthquakes and severe weather storms in the Pacific region since 2014, all linked to climate change.
Dr Goringe’s organisation works in partnership with local churches and faith communities in Fiji on climate change justice and she says questions about why the disasters have struck there have come up.
“[These questions] become a conversation in the church, and the need for church leaders to be able to speak into that space is very important,” she says.
“The feeling of being forsaken is very profound [in the Pacific],” she says.
“The church has a need to be able to work with these people to articulate how their faith and their understanding of God fits in with the reality they’re living with.”
She says Uniting World attempts to help people to find the answers they’re looking for in the Church, for example through Bible studies.
“It’s about helping people understand that, while climate change isn’t so much as God smiting you because you’ve done something wrong; but it is, in fact, a consequence of human behaviour.”
She believes churches have a lot of work to do to help people reconcile with their faith after these events.
“We are already living in the consequences of climate change,” she says.
“[But] we have an opportunity to work together, to band together to address this.
“We have faith in a God who doesn’t give up and, out of the darkest night, God is that ray of light.
“There is no dark that cannot be penetrated by people who care for each other.”
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