Sea of Faith Christchurch Group

At our meeting on 13 August, Hugh Thorpe presented a number of graphics that gave us insight into the science behind global warming. Here are some of them.

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Storms of my Grandchildren
The Truth about the Coming Climate Catastrophe and our last chance to save Humanity
by James Hansen. Published by Bloomsbury, 2009

The main thesis of this book is as crystal clear as it is frightening: that human activity over the last century has rapidly increased the greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere to the point where we are on the verge of transforming the planet into a hothouse world, with massive species depletion, sea level rise and and a host of related changes. All threatening the whole biosystem with unstoppable global warming. The difference between Jim Hansen and other “end of the world” prophets, is that he is a leading planetary scientist who has spent a lifetime studying these trends. His predictions are based, not on a misreading of some ancient religious text, but on hard science. And it all points in the same direction. Continue Reading »

Further to our recent evening on Karen Armstrong’s charter of compassion, you can view the text of the charter here: http://charterforcompassion.org/ This website also gives you the opportunity to affirm the charter, adding your name to the list of those who have also done this.

Briefly, the results of the group’s evaluation of the meeting suggestions are:

Most popular suggestions:

1. Charter of Compassion
2. My Story
3. Karen Armstrong
4. All Heretics’ Day

Interestingly, the suggestions about which we were most divided were:

1. Looking at the Bible Again for the First Time
2. The Greatest Show on Earth (Richard Dawkins’ latest book)

Joy Cowley, the well-known children’s book author spoke 12 August at Knox Church in Christchurch on this theme. For me, it is a touching experience to discover that someone who has really made their mark in the world has a wholly other side to them: fascination with the mystics, deep insights and wisdom about the human journey, a background in the Christian tradition but a complete absence of fundamentalism and literalism. You can access the text of her talk here.