Sir, – Tom Inglis’s appeal (“The devil has disappeared from the religious landscape”, Rite & Reason, August 21st) for a more compassionate moral theology that respects the interdependence of all on this planet is to be welcomed. There is need to rethink the concept of sin and evil as our planet burns.
In the past, fear of the devil, with the risk of hellfire in the afterlife, was used to control behaviour. Hellfire has jumped the barrier from myth to reality as the wildfires raging in Canada, Tenerife, Greece, and Portugal attest. The evidence of climate abuse is before us but the guilt of our complicity is often missing. Now that fear of the devil is a thing of the past, what will be the restraining force on society?
A new ethic for ecology must help us acknowledge at an affective level, personal and social responsibility for the damage being done our the planet. It could reimagine: examining our conscience, tracing the links between our behaviour and its impacts, sorrow for the damage done, accepting responsibility and resolving to change and do better. It could be expressed through a modern ritual of communal confession for church and state. Gratitude rather than greed for the beauty of the natural world as a gift that we receive, if not from God, from those who have gone before, to care and protect and hand on intact to future generations, could also help. – Is mise,
DAVID ROSE,
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Secretary General,
Association of Missionaries and Religious of Ireland,
Templeogue,
Dublin 6W.