THE struggles to combat climate change and violations of spiritual freedom are linked, because they each “spring from a typical concern for the common good”, the Bishop of Winchester, the Rt Revd Philip Mounstephen, has said.
The Bishop was making his maiden speech within the House of Lords on Thursday of last week, in a take-note debate on the UK’s contribution to international development, with particular regard to the impact of climate change on developing nations.
Bishop Mounstephen, who chaired the Independent Review of Christian Persecution in 2019 (News, 12 July 2019), said that the struggle for freedom of faith and belief (FoRB) was each global — “this can be a universal right and a worldwide problem” — and native — “in that it’s minority communities which can be most under threat from its denial”.
The denial of FoRB to minority communities also hindered their development, he argued. “Its denial might be laid squarely on the feet of each weak government and intolerant, authoritarian, and nationalistic regimes that brook no dissent. This is subsequently a growing global problem that requires a worldwide response.”
He continued: “It is significant that we act globally to guard the distinctive and the local, and there may be an ethical connection between the worldwide struggle for FoRB and the challenge of climate change. In the top, only plural states with a heart for the common global good, somewhat than their very own self-aggrandisement, will truly care about these issues.
“So, motion on FoRB and motion on climate change spring from a typical concern for the common good. In tackling each, we seek the health and welfare of the entire planet, and a typical good that, ultimately, might be expressed only through flourishing local communities. Promoting FoRB promotes plural, prosperous, and stable states, contributing significantly to international development and global security.”
Diocese of WinchesterThe Rt Revd Philip Mounstephen at a service of welcome for him in Winchester Cathedral, on Saturday
He concluded by calling for the UK to “stand against those regimes which can be more concerned with preserving their very own power than searching for the local rights of minorities and the worldwide good of the entire planet”.
In the identical debate, the Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Revd Martyn Snow, commended the Government for including “tackling climate change” within the title of its recent White Paper on international development (News, 24 November 2023), and for “advocating for a move away from donor-recipient models of aid towards partnerships built on mutual respect, putting greater value on the voice, perspectives, and wishes of developing nations, in addition to supporting local leadership”.
The White Paper had also acknowledged the necessity for the UK to “engage with humility and acknowledge our past”. Bishop Snow asked, with this in mind, whether the Secretary of State had discussed reparations during his meeting with the Barbadian Prime Minister last month. “Responding with humility and truthfully acknowledging our past includes such complex issues, which directly affect a rustic’s ability or inability to answer climate change.”
The Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Revd Graham Usher, the lead bishop for the environment, said that he looked forward to “the urgent return to the Government’s manifesto commitment of 0.7 per cent of GDP being spent on” international aid. He continued, nevertheless: “There also must be transparency in latest funding announcements about whether the funding is latest money or comes from salami-slicing existing programmes.”
Aid that was intended to assist communities to answer climate change must be focused on three areas, Bishop Usher said: first, “working each locally and globally to cut back the quantity of carbon within the atmosphere” — he drew attention to the Anglican Communion Forest (News, 5 August 2022); second, a “need to construct resilience to the impact of more extreme weather events brought on by climate change”; and, third, the necessity for the UK to supply “the proper emergency aid to affected nations”. The Bishop referred to evaluation by Christian Aid which identified a “global postcode lottery stacked against the poor”.
