EPISCOPAL CHURCH LEADER CALLS CLIMATE CHANGE "MORAL ISSUE", LIKENS IT TO CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

By Miriam Raftery

Photo:  Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite shows fires around the world.

April 7, 2015 (San Diego) – A powerful U.S. religious leader is speaking out about climate change, likening the issue to the civil rights movement and  suggesting that climate change denial is immoral.

The statements came from the Episcopal Church’s presiding bishop, Katharaine Jefferts Schori, who was an oceanographer before being ordained and name head of the church. The church hosted a webcast this week to urge church members to lobby their elected officials to take action on climate change.

In an interview with the Guardian newspaper in London, Bishop Schori noted that climate change impacts the “poorest and most vulnerable around the world already” and added that the movement to halt climate change is as important as the civil rights movement for protecting the rights of all people.

With nearly 2 million members, the Episcopal Church is part of the Anglican Communion, which has 80 million members and is the third largest Christian group worldwide, according to the Christian Science Monitor.