FAITH AND THE PLANET

This letter appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Faith and the planet

I am both surprised and saddened to read MEP Roger Helmer's view of the Church of England as having abandoned faith in favour of what he calls "the new religion of climate alarmism" ("Get back to the Gospel", Mailbox, November 16).

Why, if that is his view, did he recently accept an invitation to debate climate change in Leicester Cathedral, when he completely failed to rehearse his extraordinary view that the earth is cooling or to assert his view that his hosts had lost their faith?

Was this merely courtesy or was it because the opportunity for a platform meant more to him than exposing his views to scrutiny or challenge from a live audience?

In fact, the world's religions are united on this issue because they have a strong sense of the earth as God's creation: a fragile planet created as a gift for humans to care for rather than to exploit. That is why climate change so clearly reveals the gap between a religious world-view and secular capitalism.

That is why without faith in God the risk of human beings destroying their own habitat is very high.

And that is why all people of faith will be praying earnestly for the forthcoming Copenhagen Summit on global warming.

Rt Rev Tim Stevens, Bishop of Leicester