Apparently, the real problem for humanity is not a sinful rebellion against God, but viewing ourselves as higher or more valuable than animals and the earth.

Earth Day falls on Good Friday this year so, according the Anglican Church of Canada, what better way to remember Jesus’ atoning death on the cross than to bewail our conceit in thinking we are the pinnacle of God’s creation.

So it’s time to forget Psalm 8:5: “For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.”

And Hamlet was right out to lunch with:

What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals—and yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me— nor woman neither, though by your smiling you seem to say so.

According to the ACoC:

Yet, for many centuries most people, including most Christians, have thought of humanity as being higher, greater, more valued than or even separate from the rest of Creation. This hierarchical attitude has also infected relationships among humans.

In this way we have broken our Covenant with God. We have broken the Great Commandment because we have not loved God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind and with all our strength. Nor have we loved our neighbour as ourselves…….

One of the results has been our willingness to sacrifice the community of all living things, our Earth community, in order that humans might continue to consume fossil fuels without restraint.

And by drilling for oil, it seems we have put the earth itself – Gaia – on the cross:

And so it is with the Earth. In our indifference, in our callous disregard for the needs of all living beings, we have put the Earth upon the Cross. Today is the day for us to recognize our guilt in perpetuating injustice against our partners in Creation and confess it. In the journey from Good Friday to Easter Sunday we have an opportunity to repent and beg for mercy. True repentance requires a change of heart, a change of mind and new actions that demonstrate our new conviction.

What a revolting perversion of Good Friday.