20190611_TD

Source: BBC Radio 4: Thought for the Day

URL: N/A

Date: 11/06/2019

Event: John Bell: "Such decisions are... a feature of responsible living"

Credit: BBC Radio 4, John Bell

People:

• John Bell: Church of Scotland minister, member of Iona Community

John Bell: As an occasional visitor to the National Portrait Gallery in London, I was interested to hear that this significant and politically neutral establishment should be inciting controversy.

The issue concerns a number of artists who have written to the Gallery's director suggesting that it should sever its ties with British Petroleum, one of its major sponsors, on the grounds that oil giants contribute more to the problem of climate change than the solution, a charge which BP is keen to deny.

Sponsorship can be controversial. Whether it is the defence industry funding research in our universities, or fast food giants sponsoring sporting events, the donation of millions of pounds seems like a magnanimous gesture which, for many people, is good reason for complement rather than criticism.

As regards the Portrait Gallery, it might be claimed that its troublesome artists are biting the hand that feeds them when they suggest that the Gallery should be selective in responding to the beneficence of donors?

This issue was put in perspective for me by something which happened three weeks ago when I was working in New Zealand. It was a conference of head teachers and senior pupils from Anglican schools, including participants from Tonga, Samoa and Fiji. On the last day, I was conducting a seminar on the relationship between Christian faith and the environment. To start it off, I invited the 30 or so pupils to sit between adults in the audience.

I then asked them to tell the adults how they foresaw the future, and then listen as the adults told them when they first became aware of the issue of climate change. I gave them fifteen minutes to speak and listen to each other.

I then asked the adults if they might indicate anything surprising which they heard from the teenagers. One woman said, 'I was shocked to hear one of the pupils say that the threats to the environment made her unsure as to whether she should marry or have children if the world's future is so unstable.' The girl in question came from Fiji which has already been badly affected by climate change. For her, as for all Christians, the care of creation is not an option, but a divine mandate which can involve the sacrifice of self-interest – something which lies at the core of the Christian faith.

It seems to me that when we are faced with a climate crisis which the economist and Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz has called “our world war”, there is dignity in those who make choices they know may be to their personal cost. Such decisions are measures of love and concern, and a feature of responsible living.