Global church network pushes 'climate justice' narrative during Holy Week: 'Moral imperative'

Fox News

19-04-2025

FIRST ON FOX: One of the world's leading liberal ecumenical Christian organizations published a post during Holy Week promoting climate change activism, sparking criticism from some experts who spoke to Fox News Digital.
"Training shows climate justice a moral imperative for churches," a post on the World Council of Churches website said on Monday as the billions of Christians worldwide began observing Holy Week and commemorating the seven days leading up to Easter.
The post stated: "Exploring how churches can do more for climate justice, the World Council of Churches (WCC), in cooperation with the National Council of Churches in Bangladesh, organized a climate litigation training in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 11 April."
In a Thursday post on X, WCC again spoke about climate change saying, "Climate crisis isn't siloed—neither should our solutions be. At a joint seminar in India, experts push for a nexus approach to land, water & food justice."
"Amidst the poly-crises the world is experiencing now, the role of churches and other faith actors in terms of our contributions to climate justice is more important than ever," WCC general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr. Jerry Pillay said in Bangladesh. "Our moral voice is necessary for the urgently needed system changes."
Last week, WCC announced that it has "debuted its new resource on legal tools for climate justice, the focus was on hope for children—a hope strongly backed by knowledge on how churches can hold financial actors accountable for their role in perpetuating the climate crisis."
Fox News Digital reached out to WCC for comment.
Dan Turner, founder and executive director of Power The Future, likened the climate change push to Christianity's "long history of a battle against paganism."
"It is unsurprising that neo-pagans hide behind climate change to pollute religion and push their agenda," Turner said. "The most Christian countries have the cleanest air and water, and the greatest respect for the Earth."
Gabriella Hoffman, Independent Women's Forum Center for Energy & Conservation Director, told Fox News Digital that it is not "uncommon" for religious institutions to preach the "biblical" teaching of "stewardship of the land" but that climate justice "strays from this teaching by encouraging its adherents to reject positive human interactions with nature."
"They believe nature supersedes the needs of people. Both interests can be balanced and not at odds with each other," Hoffman said.
Steve Cortes, founder of the League of American Workers and a Senior Advisor for Catholic Vote, told Fox News Digital, "During Holy Week, the church should be focused on reflecting on Christ's sacrifice on the cross, instead of advancing climate hysteria. The church should be spreading the Gospel, not advance divisive legal battles that amplify fear over faith."
The WCC, which claims 352 member church bodies from more than 120 countries, representing over 580 million Christians worldwide, has a long history of political activism on behalf of liberal causes.
The organization has "established several highly biased and politicized subgroups," according to NGO Monitor, some of which have been linked to anti-Israel efforts and BDS activities.
Last year, the WCC issued a statement in support of the International Criminal Court's controversial decision to issue an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in response to the fallout from the October 7th terror attack.
Shortly after that attack, the WCC issued a statement calling for "underscor[ing] the necessity of addressing the root causes of the current conflict, which are deeply intertwined with decades of occupation, prolonged sieges on Gaza, and the systematic violation of fundamental human rights."