Faith leaders from the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change join blockade

Faith leaders travelled to Maules Creek this week to support local protesters who are trying to stop a new mine. People who think religion should stay out of politics may be rattled by such a move, and certainly it should not be seen to bless anyone who breaks the law. But a Buddhist monk, a Catholic priest, Uniting Church ministers and other believers nevertheless joined their voices to the calls to stop expansion of mining in the area. …

Whitehaven’s plans to build the largest new coalmine in the country are fiercely opposed by residents in the Maules Creek area. They cite the potentially devastating impacts on their health, water, air quality, agriculture and biodiversity.

It is no great leap of the imagination to see why religious people are taking a stand.

— Thea Ormerod, President of Australian Religious Response to Climate Change, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald. Read full story here.

Photos of faith leaders from the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change joining blockade against Whitehaven’s Maules Creek coal mine at Leard State Forest by Tom Jefferson.