Religion’s Role in the Climate Crisis and The Push to Forgive in the Black Church

Beyond the Encyclical: An Interfaith Panel on the Environment

The Pope’s official plea to save a planet that was “here before us” goes way beyond the Catholic Church. This week, we talk to Muslim, a rabbi and an Episcopal priest about the growing role people of faith are playing in solving the climate crisis. And we confront a passage in the Bible that has long troubled environmentalists: the idea from Genesis that  humans have “dominion over….all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”   With guests Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb, Chair of the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, Colin Christopher, Executive director of Green Muslims, Kim Lawton, Managing editor of  Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly on public television and Rev. Sally Bingham, Episcopal priest and the founder of Interfaith Power and Light.

Offering Forgiveness while Seeking Justice in Charleston

Many of us were stunned to see relatives of the victims shot down in a Charleston church offer forgiveness to the alleged killer. But for members of the black church, their words of mercy and absolution came as no surprise. We’ll find out why the push to forgive has long been a core value in a church marked by suffering. And we’ll explore the history of slavery, rebellion and freedom at the site of the shooting, the historic Emanuel AME Church.  Featuring Kelly Brown Douglas, author of Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God and Maurie McInnis,  author of The Politics of Taste in Antebellum Charleston.

Share This Episode