As President Donald Trump's administration quickly shifted to the gut environmental regulations and federal programs to reduce climate pollution, the first few weeks of his office in the office, Donald Trump's administration quickly moved to the gut Environmental regulations and federal programs, which are religious groups across the United States.
Although some evangelical leaders support Trump’s dismissal of climate science, most faith leaders say the doctrines in the Bible, the Pentateuch, the Quran and other sacred texts force people to become good stewards on the planet and to one another. care.
“Each of us must somehow be responsible for the destruction of the earth (our common house) and to some extent, from those actions that only indirectly contribute to the conflict that currently plagues our human families,” Pope Francis ( Francis, the leader of 1.3 billion Catholics worldwide, reiterated the phone call in his encyclopedia – formal letters – called “Laudato Si': Care for Our Shared Residence” in his papal message on January 1, 2025 .
“At the beginning of this year, then, we want to pay attention to the pleas of suffering,” the pope wrote in his January message.
Faith Group Commitment Action
On the first day of his new administration, Trump began the steps to pull the United States out of the Paris climate agreement. Around 839 faith communities, along with 2,978 businesses, 428 universities, 175 major investors, 362 local governments, 10 states and 13 tribal countries, announced that they will continue to fulfill U.S. commitments to the Paris Agreement to reduce climate The responsibility for emissions will limit global average warming levels to exceed 2 degrees Celsius.
The faith communities signed in the “All America” manifesto include the Jewish Climate Action Network in New York and Massachusetts, Methodist, Methodist, Axiom, Lutheran and monotheists and monotheists and monotheistic congregation and large Roman Archbishops, Anchorage, Cheyenne, Cheyenne, Cheyenne, Cleveland, Fort Wayne, Jackson, Mississippi, Louisville, Lubbock, New Orleans, New Jersey Newark, New Jersey, St. Augustine, Savannah and Toledo and many others. In late January, two American Catholic groups called on Trump to reverse his anti-environmental execution order, describing them as “shocked by a broad reversal of U.S. domestic and international climate policy.”
What are religious groups doing in terms of climate change
Some religious alliances have taken steps to fill the expected vacancy of the federal government’s abandonment of renewable energy and environmental justice programs.
“We see challenges ahead and we intend to strengthen the challenges,” said Codi Norrad, executive director of Interfaith Power & Light, Georgia. “We are in the way of expanding,” he said. ”
The organization asked the state public service commission to encourage state utilities to build more clean energy. They are building resilience centers for people hurt by extreme weather disasters and strengthening funds to help more congregations install solar energy.
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In 40 states, approximately 22,000 faith communities are involved in the Power and Light Chapter of Faith.
Religious groups are also mobilizing around other issues, such as protecting immigration, for the poor and working class, and for others on the Trump policy crosshairs.
The Jewish Climate Action Network in Massachusetts, New York and Maryland is inspiring members to take action at the state level.
“The Jewish Climate Action Network works through education, activism and spirituality, adding an urgent and visionary Jewish voice to the climate crisis,” added a co-chair of the Massachusetts Jewish Climate Action Network in an email, adding that the organization’s The focus is on decarbonization, advocacy and spiritual resilience. “In the absence of federal leaders, we will keep Massachusetts leadership honest (to fulfill climate commitments) and seek opportunities to work with municipalities” and promote individual personal responsibility. Deb Nam-Krane, one of the co-hosts, added that the group is seeking to work with other groups and become a consultant and helper for the “Next Generation of Climate Activists.”
Pressure in the form of shareholder resolutions
On the other hand, mainstream Protestant denominations and the Reformed Jewish movement, as well as dozens of nuns, are ready to present or vote for a pension committee to major companies this year, according to the International Belief Center of Interthinking Centers, which is a publication committee that will be held this year to propose or vote for climate-related shareholder resolutions by major companies, according to the International Belief Center of Interthinking Centers. . Corporate responsibility, whose members include hundreds of faith-based organizations.
If they are like in the past few years, these faith-based investment groups will ask them the major companies that are shareholders to report on how to reduce climate emissions, how these companies achieve their stated climate goals, how to protect water, and if their policies The lobbying matches their public statements about climate and water.
“Members will certainly feel the change. They are paying attention in shock and awe” as the new government, under the leadership of the new government, rejects policies on renewable energy, environmental justice and the protection of water resources.
“But the main faith communities we work with strongly declare that they are redouble their efforts to protect God's planet and diversity and human rights,” Smith said. “If you are the steward of God's planet, you will be forced to be active,” he said. Try to do God’s work.”
He noted that most denominations range from public policy advocacy to helping the chapel become more sustainable corporate engagement and shareholder advocacy is more sustainable: “People in the current political environment, “people may suffer from beatings and tiredness”, but in In the current political environment, at least at this point, what we hear is people’s commitment to it.”
He said this year, he will invest in religious denominations or ICCR members’ investment weapons or ICCR members at the company’s annual meeting. These applicants include the denomination’s pension committee or the investment manager for public donations.
Mercy Investment Services, the Mercy sisters' investment arm, has introduced a resolution requiring a major food company to report its water contamination. It noted on its website: “The sustainability of water remains a priority for Mercy Investment Services and will be a focus of shareholder participation in the upcoming advocacy season.”
Friends Futtuciary Corp., which manages Quaker's Chapel and School Investment, filed a resolution at a major bank.
Many investors usually don’t make public decisions before an annual meeting. However, Smith notes that even no faith group is affiliated with any faith group investment manager “has a fiduciary obligation to deal with climate change.” .
The financial risks of climate change are well known and demonstrate the losses caused by Los Angeles wildfires and North Carolina floods. For investment managers, he said, “It’s not only a 'good thing’, but it’s your legal obligation to deal with climate risks when making investment decisions for beneficiaries.
Alerts for climate policy reversal
Pastor Jeff Kurt and Chairman of the Queens Imam Muhammad Shahidullah, First Presbyterian Church in New York, wrote to readers of Queens, New York, New York, Neighborhood The newspaper, “The climate crisis is a moral crisis of our time.” The clergy reminds readers that “the Bible is full of beautiful verses celebrating the natural world and directs humanity to take care of the earth (Genesis 1-2) and our neighbors (Matthew 22:39). The Qur’an tells us that we are the guardians of the earth (Surah al-Baqarah 2:205) and that we are obliged to plan for the future (Surah al-Kahf 18:24).”
The two Catholic groups calling on Trump to revoke the order are the Catholic Climate Covenant and the Laudato Sue movement. They described their “alerts in the broad reversal of domestic and international climate policies in the United States” and added in a statement: “Scientists have been warning us for years that our continued burning of fossil fuels is heating the atmosphere and for The chaos of the present and the future has caused the chaos of the present and the future. For decades.”
They added: “This new administration does not embrace and advance the country’s important role in domestic and global responsibilities, but chooses to abandon scientific and economic potential, freeze U.S. commitments, and give up leadership in climate policy.”
These groups urge faithful action: “With Catholic institutions working within the United States to ensure that all human lives are protected and promote justice for all, we urge our fellow citizens, especially those in power – to seriously not see only ourselves The carbon and resource-intensive lifestyle, but our influence on all God’s creations, human and non-human.”
Their words respond to the words of the Jewish Climate Leadership Alliance, which was published two years ago in its founding statement, which is still defining its mission:
“The overwhelming global scientific consensus confirms what our own eyes see: hurricanes, superstorms, wildfires, droughts, dangerous air quality for months at a time – worse every year than the last year. The impact and affect us differently, etc. Those with less power and fewer resources (already more vulnerable resources) are most affected by climate change. Jewish values force us to face this crisis, and our commitment to the Jewish community forces us to do it together a little bit,” said the coalition representing Jewish organizations around the world.
Even evangelicals talk about their faith-based responsibilities to take care of the planet and stop climate change.
“As a Christian, I believe that God created this incredible planet in which we live and gave us responsibility to all living things above. I further believe that we are to take care of and love the most unfortunate of us, Those who have already suffered from poverty, hunger, disease, etc. Scientists from the Nature Conservancy said in a recent TED speech. “I am very confident that after the last decade or more I have had thousands of conversations, almost the world Everyone already has the values they need to care about climate change. They just don't have connection points. ”
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