Faith and the planet

“This whole arguement is plain silly. God the bible, carbon dating, Darwin. When you come down to brass tacks without technology there'd be no men as we know them and obviously no bible because there'd be no writing.
As for the church and morals or ethics how is it that in practical terms the church endorses war. How does it go 'For god, king and country.'
The first war joke about the Germans erecting a sign saying 'Got ist mit uns' and the British reply 'So what we've got mittens too' comes to mind. The joke's as much about god as mittens. I don't think there were many veterans of that slaughter that came out with their faith unshaken. On the question of global warming it's perfectly clear that the only real solution involves controlling the word economy. Keynesean economics brought brought unprecedented standards of living for the working people of the developed countries but expansion of two percent per year obviously cannot continue indefinitely. Until we achieve a stagnant world economy and stable population global warming will tend to accelerate.”

“Interesting that the Bishop thinks that faith is the solution. The problem would not be known about at all without science, the exact antithesis of faith, pointing it out in the first place.

To conquer this huge problem we need to rely on the best research. We need to be careful and evidence-based when decide what to do about it. Again, this is the exact opposite to a faith-based approach where you simply decide what to believe and stick with it.

But in reality, the bishop's ill-informed article has nothing to do with climate change. It's simply another method for him to put forward his religiously motivated bigoted view that atheists are immoral.

I find it strange that that BNP supporter was asked to leave the church a couple of weeks ago when clearly the views of the church and the BNP are so clearly aligned.”

“What I find most remarkable is your condemnation of capitalism - you add 'secular' but this reads as a conflation. Recently appointed Bishops' Convener in the unelected House of Lords, are you proposing a return to feudalism to resolve our environmental problems?”

“I'm not sure which rates higher in the mumbo-jumbo stakes: religion or eco-alarmism.
Me? I just put the recycling out every other Thursay morning.”

“Correction. Must proof read properly in future :-( .

"I have no doubt that many people of "faith" care about the environment, as to most with none, since the atheist believe that there is NO god out there to rescue us from the results of our own follies."”

“The Bishop says:

"That is why without faith in God the risk of human beings destroying their own habitat is very high."

However it depends on what "faith" and how you interpret it.

I have no doubt that many people of "faith" care about the environment, as to most with none, since the atheist believe that there is a god out there to rescue us from the results of our own follies.

However "faith" has been one of the main reasons why the world's largest polluter has not until recently addressed the problem of reducing its burning of carbon fuels. If you believe that the end of the world and the "second coming" are nigh, there is no point in taking care of the world. A large proportion of "Christian" citizens of the USA (and quite a few here) actually believe this nonsense.”

“Allan, A couple of questions:

How does the statement of the Bishop ("without faith in God the risk of human beings destroying their own habitat is very high" ) - How does this the 'movement to combat global warming? and...

Why does his statement 'spoil' contributions to the debate - surely, this was his contribution - whether others agree or not?”

“Perhaps now we might see improvements to some of the atrocious church floodlighting schemes that blight our towns and countryside. They not only waste energy lighting up the sky but they prevent people from seeing the wonders of the night sky. Tasteful lighting of a church on special occasions is one thing, blasting them and their surroundings with industrial grade floodlights for many hours every night is quite another, and this day and age quite inexcusable.”

“Bishop Tim's assertion that "without faith in God the risk of human beings destroying their own habitat is very high" (November 19) damages the movement to combat global warming. The scientific evidence is there for us all to see, and we need to work together, whether or not we believe in God. The contributions by the religions are very welcome, but why does the bishop have to spoil it by making such an assertion?
Allan Hayes, president Leicester Secular Society”