Religious leaders who have little better to do are meeting to pontificate on the “moral, ethical and spiritual” crisis of our time: what used to be called – before it was largely debunked – “Global Warming” but now goes by the less easily pinned down “Climate Change”. One thing I do know: the climate is definitely changing in Oakville. This morning it was raining and this afternoon it is sunny.

According to this gathering of spiritual Stasi, the time for persuasion, reason, education and even “conversation” is over: it’s time for compulsion:

World religious leaders today grappled with how best to compel governments and citizens to address the issue of climate change.

During the second day of the 2010 World Religions Summit here, some urged their own institutions model the very behaviours they are demanding politicians adopt as policy. Others said their own faith traditions are already doing that. Some urged more education of faith communities while others said the situation is already “beyond education” and requires intervention.

United Church Moderator Mardi Tindal thinks that having a “green” church is an expression of what she believes in, leading one to conclude that the ultimate expression of her belief would be to bulldoze United Church buildings everywhere and plant trees in their place. Something to look forward to:

Tindal also spoke about the environmental initiatives undertaken by inter-faith communities in Canada, including the Greening Sacred Spaces program, which ensures that “our buildings are responsible expressions of what we believe in.”

Pandit Roopnauth has noticed an even bigger blight than un-green United Church buildings: humanity. He takes the dim view that we are parasites. He didn’t elaborate on whether mankind should be exterminated to make way for more of Mardi Tindal’s trees, but I suspect it was at the back of his mind:

Pandit Roopnauth Sharma of the Hindu Federation said people need to be reminded that “we are the biggest parasites on earth. We take and take and give nothing back.”

The combined wisdom of the Baptist, Anglican and Muslim contingents was that we should use less energy, find out what makes people poor and not forget affluent nations – the lingering suspicion being that they shouldn’t be affluent.

It’s little wonder that there are few left in the West who take any religion seriously.