Climate change grips United Methodists’ electoral concerns – Baptist News Global

As the US presidential election progresses In recent weeks, United Methodists have turned their attention to a global issue that has received little attention from candidates and the media: Earth’s rapidly warming environment and its impact on people.

Two bodies affiliated with the United Methodist Association hosted webinars on September 17 and 18 announcing events during the meeting of the United Nations General Assembly and Climate Week in New York City. The United Methodist Creation Justice Movement hosted a 90-minute “Café” on September 17 with the theme “Politics, Methodists and Environmental Holiness.” The next day, United Women in Faith’s Just Energy 4 All unit, in collaboration with the newly renamed Department of Immigration Law and Justice, hosted a Spanish-English webinar titled “Climate Change, Displacement and Conflict: Migrants Speak.”

Co-sponsors of the UWF/ILJ webinar were the United Methodist Committee on Relief, the General Board of Church and Society, the UMC’s National Plan for Hispanic/Latino Ministries, Sojourners SoJo Action and the Interfaith Immigration Coalition.

Both webinars were touching to common elements:

• Climate change intersects with and influences many other public issues, including racism, economics and immigration.
• The New Social Principles, a set of guidelines for United Methodist Christian life, clearly state that believers have the responsibility to care for the earth as stewards of God’s creation.
• The United Methodists “need to get into the political game,” as Movement Cafe host Richenda Fairhurst put it, to build local and state collaborations to influence public policy.

“We are citizens of two different empires – first of the kingdom of God, which then forms us in the political sphere based on the life and teachings of Jesus,” said Keith Sexton, an advocacy coordinator for the UMC’s North Carolina Annual (Regional) Conference Creation Care team.

Ethicist Darryl W. Stephens, director of Methodist studies at Lancaster Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, noted that the new social principles will become the UMC’s official policy on January 1, 2025. The Social Principles were adopted by the UMC Legislative General Conference in May and were drafted over eight years by 4,000 United Methodists around the world.

The Social Principles point to three “dangers” of creation:

• Destruction of ecosystems
• Global warming and climate change
• Dependence on fossil fuels

Stephens consistently said Methodists have been caring for the environment since the 1930s. The United Methodist Church passed its first resolution on global warming in 1980, drawing attention to how greenhouse gases were warming the Earth’s atmosphere.

Retired United Methodist minister Mel Caraway emphasized the importance of communication in responding to public projects that pose a threat to the environment.

“People are using fear tactics to attack facts about climate change,” Caraway said. “We must be willing to listen to their point of view and then respectfully confront them with facts.”

Caraway urged webinar participants to encourage people to vote, regardless of their climate views. He recommended two books to prepare for difficult conversations about the environmental future: Save Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World by Kathryn Hayhoe, an evangelical Christian, and Don’t even think about it: Why our brains are designed to ignore climate change by British climate communicator George Marshall, co-founder of the Climate Outreach and Information Network.

The impact of climate change on migration can be brutal, even murderous, according to the three migrants, two men and a woman, who spoke during the United Women in Faith webinar. The webinar was held primarily in Spanish with English translation.

Ilka Vega

Ilka Vega, director of environmental and economic affairs at United Women in Faith, opened the session by noting that the idea of ​​the “climate refugee” does not enjoy authority among U.S. immigration officials. Still, she said, United Nations data shows that 21.5 million people have been displaced by climate since 2010.

“Most come from countries that have not contributed to the warming of the planet,” Vega noted.

Alba Jaramillo

Alba Jaramillo, co-executive director of Immigration Law and Justice, complained that “many stories about immigrants were racist, xenophobic and blatantly false.”

Both male speakers have been identified Because of the possible danger to their lives, they are only referred to by their first names. One of the two men also asked not to be pictured in the webinar because he is still in danger while waiting for a visa in Mexico. Speakers are identified here only by their initials to further ensure their security, as requested by Vega.

One of the men, G, told how he used to grow avocados and was forced by drug cartels to hand over his crop to them. Then the drought led to the death of the region’s avocado trees.

“The cartels don’t care,” G said. “They told me they would kill me if I failed again. I left the country illegally.”

In response to Vega’s question: G said government agencies were no help.

“You become a bigger target when you go to the authorities because they work with bad people and they turn you in,” G said. “I went there once and (drug cartel officers) beat me. It’s better if you don’t go; I told them that the water has dried up because there is no water for avocados; They scare you, they say they will kill you.

“Because I was trying to organize others, I became an even bigger target,” he said. “My brother said I had to leave because the cartels said they would kill me.”

C said his indigenous community in northern Honduras was also intimidated by drug traffickers and had their property confiscated.

“As a defender of human rights “I was a victim in our country,” said C. When he tried to emigrate, “the police in Guatemala asked for ‘cooperation’ – that meant giving them money. If you didn’t have cash, you would have problems too.”

The third speaker, S, said she escaped poor conditions in her community at the age of 16 by marrying a much older man. Unfortunately, the marriage became a domestic violence situation and she eventually fled to the United States illegally. With the help of an immigration assistance organization, she divorced her abusive husband. She said she is now a legal immigrant through a second marriage, but still cannot find work as a teacher because her Honduran credentials are not recognized. She said many Central American professionals migrating to the United States face similar hurdles.

“We’re not lazy; “We want to work, but these barriers are put in our way,” said S.