Climate Stewardship Connects Eastern Washington Faith And Farming To Legislative Action

Photo Credit: Courtney Flatt, NWPB

It was wonderful to be with caring folks at Shalom United Church of Christ in Richland last month to talk about the connection between faith and climate. 

By: Courtney Flatt – March 6, 2020

As the clock nears 10 on a recent Sunday morning, people meander to their seats inside Richland’s Shalom United Church of Christ. Piano music echoes throughout the hall as friends greet each other and shuffle through the morning service’s program.

This day’s main focus (interspersed with Scout Sunday) is a deep talk about climate change.

“It’s all going to work,” jokes Rev. Steve Eriksen, as scouts clad in khaki uniforms sit in rows behind environmental advocates.

Climate change isn’t a new topic for the progressive church, but it is perhaps tinged with new urgency. Survey results from the Pew Research Center show that congregations are delving into environmental awareness recently.

“Climate change is the most important moral issue of this generation,” Earth Ministry’s LeeAnne Beres tells the Shalom congregation.

She says science and religion go hand-in-hand: science provides the what, while religion speaks to the why: the morality behind decisions that affect the natural world. 

“Science alone won’t save us. We have to have the courage and the will to act,” LeeAnne Beres says. “The faith community has the language and the ability to articulate values in a way that can cut across political and partisan divides.”

It’s that language that the faithful are hoping to use to push for several environmental bills in the Washington legislature this session.

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