Initiative to ring Church Bells for the climate spreads around the world

Monday, 26 October 2009 13:40

In Denmark, bishops and priests have encouraged all churches to ring their bells 350 times during the UN climate summit, to call for “alert, hope and action.”

The request of ringing the church bells comes from a common believe that we are put on earth to administer the creation of God in a responsible manner, and the climate changes bears witness that we have not taken this responsibility seriously enough, the organisers say. Therefore, the request is also that churches all over the world will join the initiative and ring their bells on Sunday 13 December at 15.00. And many countries are already backing the initiative. So on 13 December, the ringing of the church bells will start on Fiji at 15.00 local time, then continue across Europe and Africa to North and South America.

In Denmark, the initiative has stirred a lot of debate, as some think that involving the church in the climate debate is to make a party political statement. The organisers, however, point out that it is not a party political statement that can be placed within the political left to right division of opinion. Climate change is something that concerns us all no matter which party affiliation we belong to - or in connection with the church - which church tradition one belongs to.

Source: Berlingske Tidende, Denmark