The Archbishop spoke to sida.se during his visit. The follow-up Interfaith Consultation was aimed at youth in Asia, whether they be Muslims, Christians, Hindus or Buddhists, who were not represented in Uppsala last year. The objective was to get youth involved in local development. On the question as to why an Interfaith Consultation on Climate Change and the different approaches that it can spawn, he pointed out that religious institutions are used to dealing with all kinds of issues from the simplest relationships to very difficult confrontations.
"The important issues concerning human life on Earth are shared and the differences between the faiths should not be over-exaggerated. All great religious traditions also have at their core the attitude love thy neighbour as thyself.
Religions enjoy long time-spans. Respect for generations yet unborn. They have become international. They have expanded the concept of neighbourhood. Your neighbour can also live far away in the world. Great religions share the belief that we have been given a personal responsibility as stewards of our planet. We have to rise to the occasion and accept it. We all recognize our ultimate responsibility to the absolute being and this can unite us."
As regards more collaboration between the faiths on other environmental issues or other issues in general, the Archbishop took the example of endeavours for peace, which have seen representatives of the different faiths cooperating for a long time.
"All religions oppose violence. Religions work at a local level and, therefore, enjoy a special relationship with people on the ground that no state or few states enjoy. Business cannot claim to have it. Many NGOs lack it. It is a great strength to be trusted by local people.
The message of peace, long-sightedness and taking care of Creation is something important to us."
The Church of Sweden is working with climate change by cooperating closely with development agencies who themselves work with churches and religious institutions in Europe. It has been following all the important preparations for COP 15 in Copenhagen and will have a physical presence there. It did a road show with all the political parties in the Swedish Parliament, where it discovered that parliamentarians are much more open to far-reaching steps than the government is. There is also a gap between parliamentarians and the people. Ordinary people are more long-sighted than politicians dare to admit.
The Archbishop adds:
"the Church must also work on its own doorstep. We heat huge churches and have travelled in an unsustainable fashion. We are working on changing this. In several rural areas the Church today is in fact the broker in promoting a more environmentally viable means of central heating. The Church of Sweden is a major owner of forests since medieval times and is now working to get them certified. An understanding of life tells us that we cannot just be takers but we must also be givers."
The Church does have a unique contribution that it can make to the climate change debate.
"It’s easy to go along with the idea that maximum profit or maximum success is true success. That is the basis of our system and when that breaks down it very easily becomes characterized by selfishness and short-sightedness. The political and economic system can only work if people have other ultimate concerns about our fellow human beings and the future. The Church has a very important spiritual role to play here."
