Dear George

In response to your question about ways you, as a Christian and those you associate with, e.g. in your church, might best respond to the call, which has been sounded for a while, that Christians, who are supposed to love humanity, especially our children, should be more proactive when it comes it comes to responding to some of the challenges (some go as far as say – emergency) that are posed due to man-made climate change, here are some of my thoughts …

If people were to place me into a category regarding my views on climate change, it might be that as a climate change sceptic, leaning to a similar view that I had when it came to Covid, that the idea of endangerment had been planted into people by the baddies that run the planet using the Hegelian dialectic to get normies alarmed, i.e. cause or state a problem, get people so worked up so as to cry out for a/any solution and provide the solution they had in mind at the start, which includes eventually killing or enslaving us. But since we are about seeking truth, we mustn’t simply accept answers that fit our ideas of the world but rather check out the facts. In my forays into the blogosphere over these past ten years, I have blogged on climate change several times, including examining the evidence.

Given that most official sources would have us believe that human caused CO2 emissions, principally as a result of burning fossil fuels, is a major reason for earth’s climate changing in undesirable ways that, along with the time and effort needed to critically evaluate the “evidence”, it becomes a challenging task. Now in my dotage and with so much else to watch on my wall, I doubt it is something I can do in my lifetime, so that I can give a satisfactory answer to the clever folk who believe, like one learned activist I will be referring to, that climate change is a (maybe the) significant existential threat to the planet now, i.e. leading to human extinction or permanently and drastically curtail humanity’s existence or potential.

While I would rather the subject simply go away, but given how many people are coming to the existential threat view and demanding actions and that, not just the Green Party, but all the main political parties other than Reform are promising solutions that would drastically affect our way of life, e.g. leading to net zero ideas, eliminating our reliance on fossil fuels, it cannot be a subject we can readily brush under the carpet and why your question is a valid one. Because, you and I particularly have in mind the Christian constituency that we seek to serve and know about, although this is something affecting everyone, I will make Christians my main focus in formulating my response, starting with these two examples:

I mentioned my learned climate activist friend. A couple of months back he gave a talk at one of the churches in my city outlining his views. While I don’t have the full transcript of what he spoke about, I got the impression this included the existential threat of climate change and the need for radical action. I got the impression this was received well and there was no indication of the church raising the sort of concerns I have been raising in my writings, e.g. along the lines there are more serious threats to humanities existence, and that the task of the church, along with loving our neighbour and living good Christian lives, is to address these, primarily through the preaching of the Gospel. While I wouldn’t want to criticise churches seeking to understand the issues of our time, it has to be done under the lens of truth and what is revealed in Holy Scripture, rather than the popular culture or “the narrative” we are meant to believe.   

More recently, I posted on my social media page words that began “These are the words of the first 16 scientists of 46 that have left the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) due to the corruption of science within the organisation”. What followed were statements by 16 scientists questioning the man-made climate change narrative. I hold my hand up as there is scope for digging deeper but at least this is another example of question the narrative we are expected to believe and follow or else be made to feel bad.

One respected Christian minister friend asked the question: what about changing weather patterns and rising sea levels? My response was: “you are one of the most honourable men I know, which is why I am especially sad when I see you barking up the wrong tree, e.g., re. climate change, and ignore far more serious issues that this dog is barking over and think that you should too. I don’t have a rounded, definitive answer to your questions and as I approach my end and try to focus on what I think the good Lord wants me to focus on it is unlikely I am going to come up with an answer that has a decent chance of convincing well-meaning people like your good self. This six minute video I found helpful (see here)”.  

As for these “far more serious issues”, which I will couple with countering the accusation that by making the stand I do I am selfishly doing a disservice to the young, I refer to my recent blog titled “C.S. Lewis and “That Hideous Strength”” (see here). What Lewis saw in 1945 is what I am seeing now – our young people are coming under increasing attack, often because of the societal ditching its once held Christian world view and that of objective truth and traditional morality. Rather than selfishly do the young a disservice, I try to protect and empower the young. As for my list of far more serious issues, I suggest folk check out my blogs for these.

Obviously, how people respond is up to them but I would urge Christians not to be swept up by climate alarmism on one hand or ignoring the issue altogether on the other and also to focus on things like “the Great Commission”. Going back to the original question, as much I would like to be able to wade in with cast iron arguments and proof to back up what I think is really happening and should happen (having identified what climate change is, its affects and how much of it is man-made) I am not about to volunteer to do so.

But I would encourage those who seek true understanding and for all of us to ask questions and not be fobbed off if we don’t conform.   

Hope this helps

John