Letter to Prime Minister Harper: Interfaith Call to Leadership and Action on Climate Change

Dear Prime Minister Harper,

I am writing to call your attention to a remarkable Canadian Interfaith collaborative effort on climate.

Drawing on the relationships and experience of organizing a Religious Leaders’ Summit in 2010 on the occasion of the G8 meetings in Canada, faith communities have come together to reflect on the spiritual roots of the current challenge of climate justice. After extensive consultations and meetings, Canadian faith communities have signed a Canadian Interfaith Call for Leadership and Action on Climate Change.

In the words of the Call, “religious traditions uphold the nobility of the human spirit, calling on us to seek moderation and service to the common good…” We “seek coherence between our beliefs and our actions, so that our lives and consumption habits reflect our relationship with the rest of humanity and the Earth itself.”

The call for leadership and action goes out to faith communities themselves, civil society, industry, businesses, and governments. We all need to “put the long-term interest of humanity and the planet ahead of short-term economic and national concerns; …the bests interests of one group or nation are served by pursuing the best interests of all.”