Rowan Williams shows us the way to become fully human:

People should use the climate change crisis as an opportunity to become human again, setting aside the addictive and self-destructive behaviour that has damaged their souls, the Archbishop of Canterbury said today.

Dr Rowan Williams, head of the Church of England and leader of the worldwide Anglican communion, told an audience at Southwark Cathedral that people had allowed themselves to become “addicted to fantasies about prosperity and growth, dreams of wealth without risk and profit without cost”.

The consequences of such a lifestyle meant the human soul was “one of the foremost casualties of environmental degradation”.

Small changes, such as setting up carbon reduction action groups, would help them reconnect with the world in addition to repairing some of the damage to the planet, because it was too much to expect the state to provide all the solutions.

It’s such a relief to realise that when Jesus said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,  coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” – Mark 7:20ff, he got it all wrong. It’s taken 2000 years for a bearded Welsh Archbishop to get to the root of things: what defiles us comes from the outside and it’s all tied in with carbon.

I’m going to turn the lights out, set fire to a scented candle and form a carbon reduction action group – phooey to suppressing all that theft, murder and adultery stuff – this is much easier. I’m reconnecting with the world; I feel more human already.

One of the ironies about Rowan Williams’ recent condemnation of bankers for not repenting of their capitalist ways, is that Rowan and his church have become more interested in how people are doing in this world than they are in where they will end up in the next. And he manages to be just as muddled about this as he is about his own church.

If Rowan were really interested in reducing poverty, he would be encouraging capitalism in places where it is squashed rather than demanding repentance from western practitioners of it; as this article points out, capitalism produces wealth, Rowan and his ideas don’t:

I respectfully disagree with Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, over his views on the City and its finance industry. He regrets there has been “no repentance for the excesses which led to the economic collapse,” and describes a feeling of “diffused resentment” that bankers have failed to accept their responsibility for the crisis.

While the archbishop is entitled to express his views, I am sure he will not mind me pointing out that these are somewhat uninformed views. He admits to not being an economist, saying the crisis has taught us that “economics is too important to be left to the economists.” I am sure he will not mind me pointing out, either, that financial services are not founded on greed. For the most part they represent honest trading by well-intentioned people whose skill lies in the efficient allocation of resources. This skill, internationally, has lifted more people from the blight of poverty and hunger than any other force in history, including religion.

But not from The Episcopal Church or the Anglican Church of Canada. He’s tackling something much easier: he wants the banks to repent:

The Archbishop of Canterbury has told the BBC he fears financiers feel no “repentance” for the excesses which led to the economic collapse.

Dr Rowan Williams said the government should have acted to cap bonuses.

He also warned that the gap between rich and poor would lead to an increasingly “dysfunctional” society.

Dr Williams told BBC Two’s Newsnight programme: “There hasn’t been a feeling of closure about what happened last year.

“There hasn’t been what I would, as a Christian, call repentance. We haven’t heard people saying ‘well actually, no, we got it wrong and the whole fundamental principle on which we worked was unreal, was empty’.”

He must be practising before he deals with his own organisation.

Rowan Williams enlightens us on what is really important:

The Archbishop said that climate change was “probably” the most important issue the world is facing today and stressed that it was a matter of justice as well as caring for the environment.

He said: “As usual the poorest are likely to suffer the most though the richest have contributed most to pollute the atmosphere and accelerate global warming.

“So we can pray that a proper sense of responsibility (not least to the generations who will follow us) and of justice guides the hearts and the minds of the politicians who will meet in Copenhagen.”

The Archbishop urged Christians to get involved with events and campaigns taking place between now and December. He plans to be in Copenhagen to support last minute campaigns for a suitable deal to emerge from the talks.

Obviously no-one has told Rowan that the earth has been cooling since 1998, global warming is, at best, scientifically questionable and has made at least one rich person – Al Gore – richer.

I wait with anticipation the day when Rowan tells us that the most important issue[s] the world is facing today are sin, redemption, Jesus, heaven, hell and our choices on the aforementioned. It could be a long wait.

I wonder what the carbon footprint of hell is?