Faith leaders respond to global warming

ReligionAndSpirituality.com
Published October 2, 2006

U.S. faith leaders are mobilizing a religious response this month to global warming.

During the first week of October, in churches, mosques, synagogues and halls of worship across the nation, congregations are participating in an inter-religious screening and discussion of educational films about global warming, featuring Paramount’s “An Inconvenient Truth,” HBO’s “Too Hot Not to Handle” and the independent documentary “Lighten Up.”

The event, called “Spotlight on Global Warming” is being organized by Interfaith Power & Light, or IPL, a nationwide movement to engage people of faith in the urgency to address global warming.

“Global warming is harming God’s creation: first the poor of the world and eventually all of us and all life,” said the Rev. Sally G. Bingham, founder of IPL and an Episcopal priest at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.

“With these screenings and discussion, we hope to inform and inspire people of faith to take personal and collective action to reduce global warming emissions,” said Rabbi Daniel Swartz at Temple Hesed of Scranton, Pa.

“I have spent my life fighting for civil rights and human rights,” said Pastor Gerald L. Durley of Providence Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta Georgia. “After I saw The Great Warming and An Inconvenient Truth, I have taken on yet another mission. We are destroying our earth. We can’t protect human rights if we aren’t here.”

“Everyone has a stake and a role in reducing global warming emissions. Working together we can change history,” said Souleiman Ghali, a Muslim leader and founder of the Islamic Society of San Francisco.