The Bishop of Stafford, the Rt Revd Gordon Mursell, has clarified comments in his Pastoral Letter for parish magazines following media reports concentrating on one aspect of it.

In a statement, published on the Lichfield Diocesan website, the Rt Revd Gordon Mursell says: “I am not saying that people who refuse to accept the reality of global change are child abusers - but that’s what is being reported on internet blogs.  Whether that’s because of the way the letter has been reported; or because I used an extreme example is for others to decide.

"I’d like to set the record straight:  I am not suggesting that, to quote the BBC News website’s headline: “Climate deniers are like Fritzl” - and to those people who are offended because they think I have said that people who deny climate change are like paedophiles I’d like to apologise for being unclear.

“But I do not seek to retract the letter or the point that I was actually trying to make - which is a point so old you’d think people would understand it by now.  The corny way of putting it is that “I” is the centre of ‘SIN’.

“All too often in today’s society the philosophy of ‘me first’ has overtaken the idea of the ‘common good’ and what is important for ‘me’ and ‘my family’ take precedent over what’s good for the stranger on the other side of the world.”

He added that the luxury of debating the rights and wrongs of climate change is exclusive to the west, while those who suffer are the world’s poor.  He said:  “While we have the liberty in the West of debating whether climate change is real or perceived; or whether ‘that scientist’ should be believed over ‘this scientist’ people are dying.

“Some of the emails I’ve received say that I should keep my nose out of climate change issues because I’m not a scientist.  This is the very response that must be condemned.  If we leave this important issue to scientists we have a convenient excuse to do nothing.”

He continued: “Christian Aid warns that unless urgent action is taken, some 250 million people will be forced to leave their homes between now and 2050.  Thirty million people will go hungry as agricultural yields go into recession across the globe; and acute water shortages will affect 1-3 billion people.

“Climate change isn’t simply a rhetorical question.  It is real and it is here and is having an effect now.  Thousands of lives are at risk.  But we can and must do something about it.

“So if my point has been lost by a clumsy analogy then I’m sorry; but I’m not sorry for raising the issue.”

ENDS

Statement from the Bishop of Stafford

On Boxing Day 2004, an undersea earthquake off the west coast of Sumatra triggered a series of devastating tsunamis which killed more than 225,000 people in eleven countries.  It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in history.

And last month Cyclone Nargis left more than 134,000 people dead or missing in the Irrawaddy delta area of Myanmar / Burma; and the UN are reporting that 2.4 million people are struggling to rebuild their lives.

These natural disasters are heartbreaking - and we can do nothing to prevent them - although the Burmese authorities are turning what was a huge natural disaster into an even greater man-made catastrophe by blocking aid and expertise from the country.

Surely if we could have done something to save lives we would have done it?  Well, maybe not.

My pastoral letter for this month’s parish magazines has received widespread media attention and criticism.

The focus is on one line, where I say: “You could argue that, by our refusal to face the truth about climate change, we are as guilty as [Josef Fritzl] – we are in effect locking our children and grandchildren into a world with no future and throwing away the key.”

I am not saying that people who refuse to accept the reality of global change are child abusers - but that’s what is being reported on internet blogs.  Whether that’s because of the way the letter has been reported; or because I used an extreme example is for others to decide.

I’d like to set the record straight:  I am not suggesting that, to quote the BBC News website’s headline: “Climate deniers are like Fritzl” - and to those people who are offended because they think I have said that people who deny climate change are like paedophiles I’d like to apologise for being unclear.

But I do not seek to retract the letter or the point that I was actually trying to make - which is a point so old you’d think people would understand it by now.  The corny way of putting it is that “I” is the centre of “SIN”.

All too often in today’s society the philosophy of “me first” has overtaken the idea of the “common good” and what is important for “me” and “my family” take precedent over what’s good for the stranger on the other side of the world.

And while we have the liberty in the West of debating whether climate change is real or perceived; or whether “that scientist” should be believed over “this scientist” people are dying.

Some of the emails I’ve received say that I should keep my nose out of climate change issues because I’m not a scientist.  This is the very response that must be condemned.  If we leave this important issue to scientists we have a convenient excuse to do nothing.

Christian Aid warns that unless urgent action is taken, some 250 million people will be forced to leave their homes between now and 2050.  Thirty million people will go hungry as agricultural yields go into recession across the globe; and acute water shortages will affect 1-3 billion people.

Climate change isn’t simply a rhetorical question.  It is real and it is here and is having an effect now.  Thousands of lives are at risk.

But we can and must do something about it.

So if my point has been lost by a clumsy analogy then I’m sorry; but I’m not sorry for raising the issue.

One blogger said the church leaders should speak less about the environment and more about Christ.  That blogger obviously didn’t read what I said - which wasn’t much about the environment at all; but about a Christian response to moral decay and political apathy - and that is to “offer and live Christ’s vision of a new and better world.”

The Rt Revd Gordon Mursell
Bishop of Stafford