Members of CCA have started a new project, which involves taking a stand against Christian climate denialism. It can be difficult to fathom how people of faith can be pushing for the destruction of creation, however that is what we are increasingly seeing. In CCA, we see it as our job to prayerfully challenge this ideology and be an example of Christians living to protect God’s world.

Marshall identifies as a Church of England Christian and is a strong opponent of net zero emissions targets. He has recently bought the Spectator magazine and co-owns GB News with Dubai-based Legatum Institute; his hedge fund Marshall Wace has investments of £1.8 billion in Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, Equinor and other fossil fuel companies.

More recently we have written a letter to Paul Marshall. Please find below.

If you wish to join CCA in this work, please contact christianclimateaction@gmail.com

Dear Sir Paul

We are supporters of Christian Climate Action and are writing to you in a spirit of friendship and cooperation following the recent ARC conference which was largely funded by your patronage.

We are thankful that you are a generous giver. You clearly take seriously what we learn in the Gospel of Luke ‘From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.’.(Luke 12.48) We invite you and your team to prayerfully consider this letter, you are invited to share the task of the prophet. Maybe you were called for such a time as this.

The ARC Conference
We note that in the keynote conversation between Jordan Peterson & Nigel Farage at the ARC conference this year both speakers displayed a seeming lack of knowledge re global warming and the basic physics around how greenhouse gases work. Peterson was not only against all net zero targets but stated repeatedly that increased CO2 was a good thing for the planet and would green desert places. He appears not to understand that because CO2 in glasshouses is beneficial for crop yield it does not negate the fact that it is very problematic in our atmosphere. Farage then repeated the false claim that the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) released by humans into Earth’s atmosphere is too small to warm the planet. There is consensus among scientists that the burning of fossil fuels has created a large amount of CO2 which along with other greenhouse gases has trapped heat in the atmosphere, causing the planet to warm. Spreading falsehoods about established scientific facts should not be left uncontested, and in the spirit of free speech – a fundamental principle of the ARC- surely it would provide some balance for you to include prominent climate scientists, such as Michael Mann or James Hansen. Politicians like minister Alok Sharma, who chaired the COP in Glasgow, has a good grasp of the science. Also, a fact check note could be added perhaps to the YouTube videos ?

We could not be in a more serious situation: Professor Sir David King (Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government and Head of the Government Office for Science from 2000 to 2007) warned last year “On our current path, civilisation as we know it will disappear. If we meet current commitments only – net zero by 2050 – perhaps some form of humanity will survive.”

Truth
We believe that truth, including scientific truth, is a core Christian value. Many Christians were present at the ARC conference and Christian values were much discussed. Surely responsible citizenship and our Christian faith must always lead us to seek out the truth and speak it without fear or favour.? In this pursuit of truth and the spirit of free speech we ask that ARC gatherings in future present the scientific facts about global heating and the enormous financial and human costs which will be incurred worldwide if urgent action is not taken to slash carbon emissions. The huge financial costs caused by multiple extreme weather disasters resulting from a 2°C or 3°C world will dwarf the costs of making the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy now and meeting our net zero targets.

The Poor
We note you talk about the impact of net zero on the poor. Concern for the poor is at the heart of the faith we share. . Would you direct some of your funding and influence to help the poor communities that Tearfund, Christian Aid and other NGOs serve that are affected by the UK aid cut ? These are people on the front lines of the climate crisis and are already suffering.

We ask you please to direct your media outlets, GB News and the Spectator, to join us in telling the truth about global heating and to join us in doing all that you can to stop the business-as-usual, carbon-intensive highway to climate hell.

The Church
Some of us are members of the Church of England and we note that you have given generously to the church through the Church Revitalisation Trust, St Mellitus College and many other initiatives. Will you please use your influence on these organisations to encourage them to rise to the challenge of the hour, and speak up about the crisis and to reflect on what the Lord calls us to do at this time in history.

We encourage you to include Christian speakers with a different viewpoint on the climate crisis & net zero to give keynote speeches at ARC next year, such as Katharine Hayhoe and Dr. Carmody Grey. Perhaps you would set up a discussion forum on the climate crisis with real climate scientists included.

We believe that you are in a powerful position to influence the direction humanity takes at this crucial moment in history and we urge you as a fellow Christian to help the church to engage wholeheartedly in that aspect of mission which underpins everything, that is protecting the integrity and survival of God’s creation.

We are hopeful that you are able to find time in your busy schedule to reply to the points raised in this letter. We look forward to a dialogue which is both nourishing and spirit-filled and to work together with you for a better world.

Yours sincerely

Rev Mark Coleman, Rochdale, Diocese of Manchester
Dr Teo Hoon Seong, Consultant Anaesthetist, Co-Founder of http://www.cleanupthetropicaltimbertrade.org
Mark Francis, Trafalgar Rd Baptist, Horsham
Rev’d Jon Swales MBE, Mission Priest, Leeds.
Rev. Professor Sandra Eldridge, self supporting minister and academic, Newham, east London.
Dr. Anthea Murr, Craven Arms, Hereford Diocese
Anne Blair-Vincent, South Shields, Sister in Christ, fellow responsible citizen and deeply concerned grandmother.
Katy Amberley, third sector manager, North London
Mr David Bagott, Server, St Andrew’s, Ham Common.
Dr Sarah Hobday. Retired Consultant paediatrician. Derby
Dr Michelle Barnes, Northwood
Helen Elwes-Artist. BA Oxon. Laudato Si Animator. Oxford.
Stephen Micalef, Poet. Bow,London
Drew James, Liverpool
Annette James, Lay Minister (CofE) Toxteth Park, Liverpool
Dave Mitchell, churchwarden of Saint Stephen’s CofE church in Bristol
Reverend Hilary Bond, pioneer priest, Dorset.
Margaret Roberts. Licensed Lay Minster (CoE) Pioneer 5th Mark of Mission. Peak Deanery. Derbyshire.
Thalia Carr TSSF Oxford
Catherine Fish, Green Christian, ALM in C of E.
Charlotte Woodbridge, Holy Trinity Wealdstone (CofE)
Susan Porter, Laudato Si Animator, Bromsgrove
Wendy Cocks, Reader, Rochdale, Diocese of Manchester
Reverend Dr Sue Parfitt, Bristol
Ruth Jarman, Odiham
Sandie Stratford, ALM, Lincoln St Peter in Carlton
Anne Watson PCC member, St Stephen’s CofE, London
Dr Mark Dick, Ballymena, Co Antrim
Judith Russenberger, a Tertiary of the Society of St Francis
Edward Latimer, Bristol.
Gillian Davis, Deanery Synod rep, Condover Deanery, Shropshire.
Geoff Stratford, Church warden, St Peter in Carlton, Lincoln; founder member, Lincoln Climate Commission
Anne Litherland, Laudato Si animator, Merseyside
Martin Jarvis – Artist. Laudato Si Animator, Ealing
Ozzie Ffield, retired aid worker, Bath
Revd. James Grote. Baptist Minister. Member of New Road Baptist Church, Oxford.
Zoë Leadbetter, Laudato Si Animator, Preston
Rev’d Canon Jonathan Herbert, Chaplain to Gypsies and Travellers Diocese of Salisbury
Andy Hansen OBE; retired from British Council; concerned father and grandfather; community volunteer. Hassocks; West Sussex
Sr Kate Midgley, Columban Sister and Laudato Si animator
Gill Slater, RC Eucharistic Minister, Addiscombe
Adrian Johnson, former Vice Principal of Grindon Hall Christian School, Perth, Scotland
Revd. Azaraiah France-Williams, Rector, The Ascension Church, Hulme
Angela MacKeith, trustee of the Blackfriars Overseas Aid Trust, Blackfriars Dominican Priory, Oxford
John Clements, Licenced preacher, Parish of North Hinksey & Botley, Oxford
Anna Fitzpatrick, Laudato Si Animator, Oxfordshire
Isabella Harding, Laudato Si Animator, Bristol
Gillian & Marcus Robbins. Laudato Si Animators, Oxford
Rev Rebecca Craven, The Ascension Church, Hulme
Diane Harrison, Mother Grandmother and Specialist Nurse Staffordshire