Allah will save us!

This column has been in the oven a long time. I have always wondered what role religion should play regarding the health of mother earth. Since we can save our climate, my opinion is that religious institutions have a moral duty to take a stand. This opinion is not widely accepted.

“Allah will save us!” This column is titled as such because I flew with a lot of pilots that had, at one time, flown as instructors in Iran and Saudi Arabia. Instructor pilots need to be especially talented and have a tank full of courage.  I know this because my instructors survived my bonehead mistakes and never gave up on me.

Veteran instructor pilots from the Mideast retold vivid stories about training maneuvers gone wrong. It seemed that at critical points, when things were getting sketchy in the cockpit, troubled students would let go of the controls, throw up their hands, and yell out, “Allah will save us!” Being foreign instructors, they had to diplomatically explain to the students that Allah might, indeed, save their souls, but Allah’s laws of aeronautics needed to be obeyed or they would both make an earlier than anticipated visit to Allah.

I always wondered why my instructors never pursued this tactful method with me. They simply swore, grabbed my flight suit, pulled me real close so I could plainly make out their bulging veins on red faces and threatened me with bodily harm and death should I repeat my mistakes.

These tense times in the cockpit can, for some, become moments to call for divine intervention, which I hastily did. Repeated maneuvers always went better. This cause and effect series of events strengthened my faith.

In many churches, the consequences of ignoring climate change are discussed in earnest. Many of the climate marches we have participated in started at a church. Religious leaders offered inspirational sermons to the flock prior to a day of marching.

Locally, I have approached both lay people and clergy about climate change. At times, I have met a person curious or concerned but that is the exception. Sometimes, they say that their church membership is not interested. Others say that matters of science are not in the realm of their god focused lives. Some feel they should limit their efforts to “saving souls.” Many people say they do not have to worry about climate change because, “believing”, is all that is required.

Because I am a Lutheran, I read a book called, “Strange Glory”.  I was curious about my church and what happened to it in pre-WWII Germany. The book was written by Charles Marsh about the famous Lutheran Minister and Theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  Bonhoeffer’s story is one that gets far too little attention. His story is well worth anyone’s interest. He was at his intellectual peak just as Adolf Hitler was coming to power. He energetically opposed the Nazification of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church. The church, to his horror and dismay, rolled over to become an instrument of the Nazi state.

What troubled me the most about Bonhoeffer’s experience was his documentation of the German people’s rejection of reason and logic. Many of the intelligent people he knew before Hitler came to power could no longer be engaged in rational conversation. Here is what he says, “Facts that contradict one’s prejudgment simply need not be believed…and when facts are irrefutable, they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental.”

Truth, it seemed to him, was abandoned and he noted in protest, “No man in the whole world can change the truth. One can only look for the truth, find it and serve it. The truth is in all places.”

A pivotal period in Bonhoeffer’s spiritual growth had been his early exposure to American churches. Those churches believed a Christian developed a Christian Conscience. From that spiritual conscience, those American Christians believed, develops the courage to act.

Bonhoeffer had opportunities to escape. He did not. His resistance to the Nazis put him at risk, a risk he was fully aware of. His faith and courage did not fail him.

How should religious people act in the face of any crisis?  That is for each of us to personally work out.

 I have never found throwing my hands up and yelling, “Allah will save us!” to be effective. If Mr. Bonhoeffer is correct, a Christian searches for the truth. Then, after diligently searching out the truth, he follows his conscience.  The truth is climate change is real and is impacting the lives of Christians and Muslims around the world. My only prayer is for churches of all faiths to help their believers find this truth.   

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