A group of religious leaders representing a range of faiths has come together to promote the need to act on climate change.
The group says religious organisations have an important role to play in protecting the environment for future generations.
And it says, in the lead-up to the federal election, the group is advocating for bipartisan support of the carbon tax.
Ildi Amon reports.
Sixteen faith leaders, representing groups including the Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Hindu and Buddhist religions, are calling for bipartisan support of a price on carbon.
The leaders, calling themselves the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change, have signed an open letter about the issue.
They say it marks a remarkable show of unity and the environment is the most urgent moral issue facing this year's federal election.
The group's president, Thea Ormerod, says religion plays an important role in the climate debate.
"Our beliefs are not separate from the way we live and who we are. Our spiritual beliefs are meant to inform our day-to-day lives and how we engage with the society we're living in. So how we actually vote needs to be informed by the beautiful values of our religion, which usually steer away from economic prosperity as the answer to happiness and towards mutual respect for each other, caring for others and the world around us."
A spokesman for the Muslim signatories, Keysar Trad of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, says religions often work together and this is just one example.
"Secular society -- in particular, atheist elements of society -- have, for a long time, been trying to restrict religion to the Church and to spiritual pursuits only, but the environment has always been important to us as human beings, as people who believe in God and as people who believe that our presence on this earth is to fulfil a good purpose and that we have to be at peace with the environment that we live in so that we can leave a healthy world for future generations."
Mr Trad says the role of religious leaders in this debate is to show moral and ethical guidance to the broader society, particularly on the production and use of energy.
Another signatory, Uniting Church in Australia moderator Reverend Dr Brian Brown, says the Uniting Church has long urged its congregation to protect the environment and conserve energy.
Reverend Dr Brown says the Uniting Church has even decided to divest its shares in companies that mine fossil fuels and to invest, instead, in renewable energy.
He says it is important to show there is broad, multi-faith consensus on the need to have measures like the carbon tax.
"We understand that, in the last six to 12 months, there have been quite significant savings of energy output as a result of the carbon tax being there. We do understand that it can cause some hardship for some people economically, but, overall, as a long-term policy, we believe it's responsible and brings us into line with a lot of countries and what they're trying to do as well."
Reverend Dr Brown says preserving the environment is one of the highest priorities for members of the Uniting Church.
And he says it is not true that religious organisations typically take a more conservative view on climate science.
"Well, I think a very large section of the Christian Church would affirm the science and is not anti-science. We really don't see conflict between science and religion. We're just addressing similar questions, but in a different way. So I think it's a real shame that all Christian groups are tarred with the same brush,* as if we're all conservatives and we're all sort of anti-science and anti-evolution and things like that. It's really not the case."
Thea Ormerod says the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change has views on a broad range of public policy issues.
Its policies include phasing out coal exports, ceasing logging of old growth forests and encouraging Australia to welcome climate displaced people.
But she says the group also wants to promote how it thinks people of faith might live.
Ms Ormerod says people who live comfortably should take practical steps to be more environmentally friendly, like having solar hot water, buying less and reducing their meat consumption.
"I hope that we have some kind of moral standing in the eyes of a lot of people -- particularly, if we all stand together, we're not in conflict here with each other. Here, we have people who are from very diverse traditions all coming up with pretty much the same conclusions. We're hoping that that's saying something to the Australian population, who are kind of being swept along a particular tide, that we need to export coal for our economy and we need to preserve our lifestyles. Why do we need to? I mean, we live like kings. It's all right. In most of human history, people were happy without the kinds of lifestyles we have today."
Share
