Marching Against Climate Change, the Vicar of Baghdad, and More

Jesi Kelley | Noxie Studio
Marching Against Climate Change, the Vicar of Baghdad, and More September 26, 2014
One parade float stood out at last weekend’s climate march in New York: a huge replica of Noah’s Ark, a Biblical symbol of hope in the face of climate catastrophe.
Ethan Bloch | Flickr
Faith and Fossil Fuels September 26, 2014
When the Rockefeller Brothers Fund announced their decision to divest $50 billion from fossil fuel investments on September 22, they joined a small but growing movement that includes churches, Christian seminaries, and other religious groups. That statement came just one day after more than 300,000 people gathered in New York City for the People’s Climate March. Some of the march’s religious leaders could be found in a wooden replica  of Noah’s Ark carrying the message, “We are all Noah now.”  We talk with Rev. Fletcher Harper about his experience at the march, and find out why he thinks religious groups have a special obligation to divest from coal, gas and oil stocks.Pictured on left: (1901) A cartoon from “Puck” magazine depicting Rockefeller as an industrial emperor. The Rockefeller family made their fortune in the oil industry, but now their philanthropic foundation is distancing itself from that enterprise. 

Rev. Fletcher Harper, Executive Director of Green Faith

Pictured above: A snapshot of the Noah’s Ark replica at the People’s Climate March in New York City on September 21. Credit: Sally Dunne.

Courtesy the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East
Canon Andrew White’s Prayer for Iraq September 26, 2014
As the chaplain of the only remaining Anglican church in Iraq, Canon Andrew White has seen some of the worst violence and turmoil in that nation’s history. He’s watched Iraq’s Christian community dwindle from more than one million people in in 2003 to no more than 300,00 today, and he’s even been kidnapped and held at gunpoint. Despite the danger, and his personal battles with multiple sclerosis, he refuses to leave. Canon White, dubbed ‘the Vicar of Baghdad,’ joins us in our studio.Canon Andrew White, vicar of St. George’s Church in Baghdad
Public Domain | Wikimedia Commons
World Religions 101: Confucianism September 26, 2014
Confucians aren’t particularly interested in the divine or the afterlife; they’re more concerned with the here and now–with cultivating harmony and virtue. The problem Confucianism is trying to solve is lack of social order. The answer is to be kind and honorable to each other, through rituals and etiquette.Pictured: A portrait of Confucius by the Tang Dynasty artist Wu Daozi (680–740).

Stephen Prothero, author of God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions that Run the World and Why Their Differences Matter


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