E
OPINION
16
OCTOBER 2019
A lesson in morals from the young Tim Costello on a day of hope Our children protesting for bolder action to deal with climate change are on the right side of history. In the wake of fires raging in the Amazon rainforest, a powerful hurricane battering the Bahamas, unseasonal rain in parts of Africa and both crippling drought and flash floods in Australia, thousands of school students worldwide took to the streets recently for the biggest yet global climate strike. It was a just response to global injustice and the political impotence of their elders. Politicians across the world have consistently procrastinated on climate change, ignoring evidence that clearly shows it is already severely affecting our planet. The young activists’ sustained and persistent demands for
For God so loved the Earth: Uniting Church students protest outside St Stephen’s Church Sydney. urgent action, supported by the best available science, are to be welcomed. They are speaking truth to power. They are bringing politicians to account. The young are teaching the older generations about values and morality.
In the opening pages of Genesis we are told that humans were created in God’s image and given a divine mandate to care for creation. Creation care is a fundamental building block of Christian faith,
so it is incumbent on all Christians to take this seriously. We are living in a narrowing window of opportunity The climate crisis is a human rights issue – children, the poor and disadvantaged are at greatest
risk of injury, disability and death caused by its impact. The bold student-led protests threaten to topple the false gods – market forces, over-consumption and unrestrained greed – that undervalue God’s creation. They seek a more fundamental reimagining of what constitutes a good life on this particular planet. No wonder the coordinated youth movement, harnessing the power of collective action, has hit a nerve. The good news today is that many young people and their schools today are leading the way when it comes to making the world a better place. More children are sponsoring children in developing nations and raising money to build schools in war-torn and disasterprone nations. At home they are increasingly standing up for the disadvantaged through studentrun projects. And they are walking out of their classrooms to inspire change. I have great hope in this generation. They can look at the injustice in the world and ask the question: Why are things like this and what can I do about it? They should never stop asking that question. Tim Costello is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Public Christianity.
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