Bishop of Oxford adds climate change questions to baptismal liturgy
by George Conger, Anglican Ink:
The Bishop of Oxford has added a sixth question to the Church of England’s baptismal rite, calling upon the newly baptized to “strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the Earth”.
In his 11 June 2022 address to the diocesan synod, the Rt. Rev. Steven Croft, spoke at length of what he saw as a “climate crisis” facing the world. Bishop Croft noted:
“We see the consequences of environmental catastrophe everywhere. Climate change is a lived reality now the whole world over,” noting the South African diocese of Kimberly and Kuruman had been plagued by droughts and failed harvests, while “Our own country is seeing rising numbers of extreme weather events year by year: storms and floods and fires which devastate communities and will steadily grow worse. More and more of our national wealth will need to be invested in the mitigation of these effects and in adaptation in order to continue anything like our present way of life.”
[…] Climate activist groups applauded Bishop Croft’s announcement. The Guardian reported that Greenpeace and the Young Person’s Christan Climate Network thanked the bishop for his initiative. A Greenpeace spokesman told the Guardian, “[I[n a climate and nature emergency, you need to make environmental considerations central to your project right from the very beginning and keep them in mind the whole way through. That sounds very much like wisdom worth listening to.”
Not all responses were as laudatory.
See also:
Diocese of Oxford puts a green stumbling block into liturgy of baptism, by Archbishop Cranmer:
Quoting Marcus Walker:
“…it’s really important that the Church avoids putting barriers up that would discourage people from encountering this grace. It is difficult enough for the Church to persuade people that the Christian message is true… Pushing away those who don’t hold to the ideologies of the current bench of bishops is foolish in the extreme.
Is the Church now the Green Party at Prayer? by David Robertson, Christian Today:
“For some churches who have lost sight of the Good News of Jesus Christ (which does involve creation and the promise of a renewed one), I suspect that the new Green religion offers them something to be religious about.”
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