Facing Climate Change as Orthodox Christians
A Time for Hope, not Despair
Rev. Protopresbyter Christopher H. Bender, Dean
St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
January 22, 2019
The scientific evidence is overwhelming and frightening: global warming (climate change) is real. It is caused primarily by human activity in burning fossil fuels (CO2 and methane, primarily), which has released billions of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, in order to power our industrial/ electronic culture. If unchecked, its destructive effects on both the natural world and human civilization will eventually lead to dire consequences. These include more violent storms, rising sea levels that will flood coastal cities and even whole countries, droughts, famines, floods, more extreme forest fires, large parts of the earth that will become too hot for human habitation, a new “climate refugee” crisis, the spread of deadly tropical diseases, and, eventually, the collapse of the worldwide food production system. It will be difficult for desperate governments to provide for their people, and the international atmosphere of fear, recrimination, and helplessness could easily lead to war. In the midst of all this chaos, millions might very well suffer and die, as a consequence of all this chaos. We should not assume that our own children and grandchildren can be kept safe from these threats.
How are we as Orthodox Christians to understand this crisis? Let us begin by looking at the Holy Scriptures. Our tradition, basing itself on the teachings of Holy Scripture, recognizes the earth and all life on it as the creation of a good God, who “saw… that… it was very good” as He finished His work by creating human beings – male and female (Genesis 1:31). The presence of the Holy Spirit in the world is made clear to the eyes of faith from the very beginning: “The Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the water.” (Genesis 1:2). The world is loved by God, and God is present in the world. We may have been given “dominion” over the earth (Genesis 1:26-28), but only as God’s stewards, for, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and all who dwell therein.” (Psalm 23 [24]:1).
Psalm 104 (103) praises God for the wonders of this incredible, beautiful world, and for all the creatures He has made to inhabit it: “O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all” (104:24). The focus of this psalm is on how God, in His providence, has provided for all his creatures – not just for human beings. A wide variety of wild animals are mentioned. It is assumed that each one lives its own life, without reference to humanity, dependent only on God Himself for its life and its sustenance. They have a claim to this earth, too: they belong here – and they belong to God, not to us.
At the very end of the Book of Psalms, the last verse of Psalm 150 proclaims, “Let everything that breathes praise the Lord, Alleluia.” This implies that all of God’s creatures somehow have a place in the celestial chorus of praise that is offered to our Creator and Redeemer. We cannot but wonder, however: how many of these incredible, beautiful, unique beings will still be around, after their native habitats are turned to deserts, and their forests become fields, and they have nowhere else to flee? Consider: species abundance is down 60% since 1970.
In the New Testament, we learn that the world has been made holy by the incarnation in the flesh of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, who entered it as a newborn babe in a stable, among the animals. His baptism in the Jordan sanctified all the waters of the earth, and so therefore all the world. As He died on the Cross, His blood poured onto the ground, hallowing it and redeeming Adam (i.e., the human race). His glorious Resurrection contains within it the promise that Jesus is the “firstborn of the dead,” and that all shall rise on the Last Day, as this planet is also redeemed and transformed along with all of creation into the Kingdom of God (see Romans 8:18-22). This Gospel message is the source of our faith, and of our hope for the future.
When we work, as Orthodox Christians, to protect and nurture life on this planet, we are not doing something that is optional or superfluous to our salvation; rather, we are conforming our will to God’s will. By respecting and protecting the earth, we demonstrate that we recognize the presence of our loving, life-affirming God among us, sanctifying the earth, and that we are witnessing to and cooperating with His plan for its salvation, as people of hope.
Many Americans reject the reality of climate change – perhaps because it is associated politically with left wing politicians who also often support policies that are morally repugnant for traditional Christians, including abortion on demand, gay marriage, and government regulation as a means to impose social change. Here, however, we have a good example of “throwing the baby out with the bathwater.” When we consider the massive and increasingly obvious threat to human life, and indeed, to most life on this planet, that is posed by global warming, it is important to understand that it is not, in the first place, a political issue. It is a moral issue, in fact, it is a pro-life issue! What good does it do, for instance, to protect the unborn, if we are simultaneously creating the conditions that will make life nearly impossible for those children when they grow up?
When we who are Christians support sane efforts to reduce the peril of climate change, we are behaving in a manner that is totally consistent with our faith. We are working to preserve human life and, indeed, all life on this planet. We are not required to change our political affiliation to do this, nor are we obliged to reverse our views on other important moral issues.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change declared in their latest report (October 2018) that we have only twelve years left to turn things around, before the average global temperature rises into the danger zone. And, in a report issued in January 2019 at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, climate change was deemed the “biggest threat to the planet.” Of all the dangers we face, “it is in relation to the environment that the world is most clearly sleepwalking into catastrophe. The results of climate inaction are becoming increasingly clear.” It is not that solutions to this challenge do not exist; what is lacking, rather, is the political will to implement them.
This is not the time to give up, however – because we are people of hope, not despair. It is the time, rather, to come together and put aside our differences, for the sake of our children, and indeed, for all the surviving creatures on this beautiful and richly varied planet that is our home. It is time to get to work, and to build the future for our children that they deserve. It is time to reaffirm our faith in our Father in Heaven, who sacrificed so much on our behalf, and on behalf of this entire cosmos. It is time to take the words of our Lord seriously: “For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
Printed by permission of
Rev. Protopresbyter Christopher H. Bender, Dean
Rev. Protopresbyter Christopher H. Bender, Dean
St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
January 22, 2019
The scientific evidence is overwhelming and frightening: global warming (climate change) is real. It is caused primarily by human activity in burning fossil fuels (CO2 and methane, primarily), which has released billions of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, in order to power our industrial/ electronic culture. If unchecked, its destructive effects on both the natural world and human civilization will eventually lead to dire consequences. These include more violent storms, rising sea levels that will flood coastal cities and even whole countries, droughts, famines, floods, more extreme forest fires, large parts of the earth that will become too hot for human habitation, a new “climate refugee” crisis, the spread of deadly tropical diseases, and, eventually, the collapse of the worldwide food production system. It will be difficult for desperate governments to provide for their people, and the international atmosphere of fear, recrimination, and helplessness could easily lead to war. In the midst of all this chaos, millions might very well suffer and die, as a consequence of all this chaos. We should not assume that our own children and grandchildren can be kept safe from these threats.
How are we as Orthodox Christians to understand this crisis? Let us begin by looking at the Holy Scriptures. Our tradition, basing itself on the teachings of Holy Scripture, recognizes the earth and all life on it as the creation of a good God, who “saw… that… it was very good” as He finished His work by creating human beings – male and female (Genesis 1:31). The presence of the Holy Spirit in the world is made clear to the eyes of faith from the very beginning: “The Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the water.” (Genesis 1:2). The world is loved by God, and God is present in the world. We may have been given “dominion” over the earth (Genesis 1:26-28), but only as God’s stewards, for, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and all who dwell therein.” (Psalm 23 [24]:1).
Psalm 104 (103) praises God for the wonders of this incredible, beautiful world, and for all the creatures He has made to inhabit it: “O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all” (104:24). The focus of this psalm is on how God, in His providence, has provided for all his creatures – not just for human beings. A wide variety of wild animals are mentioned. It is assumed that each one lives its own life, without reference to humanity, dependent only on God Himself for its life and its sustenance. They have a claim to this earth, too: they belong here – and they belong to God, not to us.
At the very end of the Book of Psalms, the last verse of Psalm 150 proclaims, “Let everything that breathes praise the Lord, Alleluia.” This implies that all of God’s creatures somehow have a place in the celestial chorus of praise that is offered to our Creator and Redeemer. We cannot but wonder, however: how many of these incredible, beautiful, unique beings will still be around, after their native habitats are turned to deserts, and their forests become fields, and they have nowhere else to flee? Consider: species abundance is down 60% since 1970.
In the New Testament, we learn that the world has been made holy by the incarnation in the flesh of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, who entered it as a newborn babe in a stable, among the animals. His baptism in the Jordan sanctified all the waters of the earth, and so therefore all the world. As He died on the Cross, His blood poured onto the ground, hallowing it and redeeming Adam (i.e., the human race). His glorious Resurrection contains within it the promise that Jesus is the “firstborn of the dead,” and that all shall rise on the Last Day, as this planet is also redeemed and transformed along with all of creation into the Kingdom of God (see Romans 8:18-22). This Gospel message is the source of our faith, and of our hope for the future.
When we work, as Orthodox Christians, to protect and nurture life on this planet, we are not doing something that is optional or superfluous to our salvation; rather, we are conforming our will to God’s will. By respecting and protecting the earth, we demonstrate that we recognize the presence of our loving, life-affirming God among us, sanctifying the earth, and that we are witnessing to and cooperating with His plan for its salvation, as people of hope.
Many Americans reject the reality of climate change – perhaps because it is associated politically with left wing politicians who also often support policies that are morally repugnant for traditional Christians, including abortion on demand, gay marriage, and government regulation as a means to impose social change. Here, however, we have a good example of “throwing the baby out with the bathwater.” When we consider the massive and increasingly obvious threat to human life, and indeed, to most life on this planet, that is posed by global warming, it is important to understand that it is not, in the first place, a political issue. It is a moral issue, in fact, it is a pro-life issue! What good does it do, for instance, to protect the unborn, if we are simultaneously creating the conditions that will make life nearly impossible for those children when they grow up?
When we who are Christians support sane efforts to reduce the peril of climate change, we are behaving in a manner that is totally consistent with our faith. We are working to preserve human life and, indeed, all life on this planet. We are not required to change our political affiliation to do this, nor are we obliged to reverse our views on other important moral issues.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change declared in their latest report (October 2018) that we have only twelve years left to turn things around, before the average global temperature rises into the danger zone. And, in a report issued in January 2019 at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, climate change was deemed the “biggest threat to the planet.” Of all the dangers we face, “it is in relation to the environment that the world is most clearly sleepwalking into catastrophe. The results of climate inaction are becoming increasingly clear.” It is not that solutions to this challenge do not exist; what is lacking, rather, is the political will to implement them.
This is not the time to give up, however – because we are people of hope, not despair. It is the time, rather, to come together and put aside our differences, for the sake of our children, and indeed, for all the surviving creatures on this beautiful and richly varied planet that is our home. It is time to get to work, and to build the future for our children that they deserve. It is time to reaffirm our faith in our Father in Heaven, who sacrificed so much on our behalf, and on behalf of this entire cosmos. It is time to take the words of our Lord seriously: “For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
Printed by permission of
Rev. Protopresbyter Christopher H. Bender, Dean