Naked Truths and Public Advocacy: Climate Crisis and the UCC
At the Climate Cafe Multifaith, our effort is conversation around climate, environment and faith. People of faith across the country and the world want to learn more from the faith perspective concerning challenges and solutions. We invited Rev. Dr. Brooks Berndt to come and lead a conversation centering his work and the efforts of the United Church of Christ, the UCC, a denomination that has been a leader in environmental justice for decades.
Rev. Berndt is the Minister of Environmental Justice for the UCC (see his bio below). A former church pastor, he is now an author and advocate for a livable, sustainable earth. Rev. Berndt spoke about addressing climate justice through public action and visibility, a work of faith modeled by the prophets, especially the prophet Isaiah. He believes that for real change to come about, people of faith can and must be a visible, moral voice.
“We can focus on lifestyle changes and other things. But ultimately, we need to apply our morals to those who are in power. Because that's ultimately where we will make the difference in addressing something the size of the climate crisis.”
-Rev. Dr. Brooks Berndt
Photo by Giorgio Trovato, cropped.
In the video below, Rev. Berndt shares his thoughts about the witness of prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah and Moses. He speaks to the way the prophets responded to the big challenges of their time. Their witness was both moral and pubic as they called entire cities and kingdoms to turn toward righteousness. Explains Rev. Berndt, “Jeremiah was called to be a prophet. …his task, as it was given to him, was to make his denunciation of the rulers in the hearing of all of Jerusalem.”
Rev. Berndt gets the phrase ‘naked truth’ from Isaiah 20: 2-4. In this bible passage, the prophet Isaiah removes his clothes and shoes to ‘walk naked and barefoot’ for three years. His own body becomes a ‘sign’ of the inequality of the current economic system, with many people enslaved and/or impoverished. Isaiah’s bodily nakedness also witnesses to the inevitable outcome of injustice, a warning of what the consequences of injustice will be at the hands of the Assyrian empire.
At that time the Lord had spoken through Isaiah, Amoz’s son, “Go, take off the mourning clothes from your waist, and remove the shoes from your feet.” And Isaiah did this, walking naked and barefoot.
The Lord said, “Just as my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years, as a sign and omen against Egypt and Cush, so will the king of Assyria lead the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, both young and old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks bared, humiliating Egypt. (Isaiah 20:2-4 CEB)
Rev. Berndt reveals in the text a response to injustice that is just as relevant now, in a time of climate change, as it was in ancient times. The passage shows God raises up prophets to take big actions during times of great crisis. God calls a prophet when something big has to get done.
Rev. Berndt illustrates again with the example of Moses. Moses lived during a time when the kings and princes of Egypt had enslaved the Hebrew people. Then one day, from a burning bush, God calls Moses and tells him it is time to speak truth to power. Says Rev. Berndt, “A lesson that we might take from Moses is that being a prophet is about confronting the powerful with a demand. If there wasn't the famous phrase, ‘Let my people go,’ Moses would still be tending Jethro’s flocks. If he hadn't received the call to go confront Pharaoh, we would never have heard of him. That's an important lesson for the environmental movement. We can all live a morally pure life tending to sheep. But the real challenge comes when applying one's morals to those who are on the throne.”
Public action is important, says Rev. Berndt, because “public action changes public attitudes, and public attitudes change voting behavior and policies.” Or, in other words, when a regular citizen sees the moral action of people demanding change, they can recognize the ‘naked truth’ in front of them.
“Equity has to be at center stage, because people who have contributed the least to climate change are the ones who will feel it first, worst, and longest. Justice can't be a footnote, it has to be at the center of everything we do.”
—Rev. Dr. Brooks Berndt
Photo by Logan Weaver.
For people of faith, a public call for change includes a spiritual component. Big changes in behaviors—such as a rapid transition away from fossil fuels—aren’t brought on simply by people understanding science or measuring groundwater contamination. Big changes require spiritual awakenings. This is why Rev. Berndt believes public action by people of faith is so important, they serve as moral witnesses for this necessary spiritual work.
Public action serves another vital part, also. The sheer scale of the crisis itself means the actions needed to address that crisis need to be just as big. As Rev. Berndt notes, “you have to operate at the scale of the crisis.” Individual actions like reducing plastic is good, but it can also be a distraction if that is all you are doing.
Rev. Berndt emphasizes that we have a very “narrow timeline” in which to meet the climate crisis in front of us. “To emphasize individual actions is like bringing a garden hose to fight a forest fire. If somebody was doing that, we would have no problem telling him that that's not the right thing to do. We would say ‘this is the time for calling the fire department.’” Likewise, a big crisis, like a big fire, needs a big and coordinated response. Says Rev. Berndt, “In this metaphor, the fire department is Congress, because it has the power to act …If we want to talk about real solutions that operate on the scale of what we're dealing with, we have to talk about Congress.”
Rev. Dr. Brooks Berndt with fellow marchers at the 2017 Climate March.
Photo by United Church of Christ/Jessie Palatucci CC BY-NC 2.0 cropped.
His solution is a simple one. Channel your inner prophet and speak out, be visible, and demand change from those with the power to act on the scale we need. Says Rev. Berndt, “I think the focus has to be organizing communities of faith to do public actions—to do more of them, to do them and do them consistently.” When Rev. Berndt speaks to the need for public action in this instance, he is talking about legal action. Civil disobedience has a place in public discourse. But for this effort in organizing faith communities, Rev. Berndt is speaking to visibility and truth and witness and testimony of people and communities of faith that can be offered faithfully and consistently within the law.
Yet even visible, legal witness for the creation and justice can be uncomfortable. We all know folks we love and care about who feel uncomfortable with any visible public action at all. Sometimes this is silencing, with no one in the community speaking out for fear of hurting feelings or dividing friends. Yet Rev. Berndt cautions against this type of “justification for not doing public action.” In our silence, we are “shielding and buffering” those in power, the very ones who should be dealing with the crisis. By insulating ourselves and others from the discomfort of facing climate change, says Rev. Berndt, “we are part of the problem.”
This is the naked truth that Rev. Berndt has come to see.
“As North America approaches the end of the 2021 water year, the two largest reservoirs in the United States stand at their lowest levels since they were first filled.”
—NASA
Photo, Lake Powell May 2021 by Hallie West.
The conversation at the Cafe continued with spirit. One aspect of conversation was the question about what kind of action is needed.
Justin Lowery spoke to the dilemma as to what type of actions reflected the urgency of the crisis, while still being faithful to the moral underpinnings of different traditions. “We are at a point in the climate crisis where the usual, politically correct so to speak, safe, easy tactics are simply not working. And the timeline has grown too dire and too short. So we do need to look at what radical sweeping public actions can we take. But at the same time, getting arrested, breaking the law, destroying property, obstructing infrastructure, these are all really questionable at best morally and ethically.” Lowery sees hope in the stories of the prophets, recognizing that “creative displays” as truth-telling can indeed make an impact, even if that means “doing crazy things.”
Lowery also notes that, “...the second you create victims, or you use violence, or you break the law, now all of a sudden, you're the bad guy and you've just undermined your whole cause.”
Lowery’s words remind me of the Wesleyan teaching to ‘do no harm.’ Yet, in a time of great urgency, when so much harm is being done to others, how do people of faith act firmly and visibly enough, and with conviction, to be heard? Because our traditions also call us to act on injustice.
And this is where the teachings of the prophets can be helpful, indeed. Says Lowery, “...If we look to the prophets as Brooks was saying...there's a lot of creative, disruptive, nonviolent approaches that can draw public attention without creating a trail of victims or violence or law breaking. ...we've got to get creative about it …in a way that's non-violent, that's peaceable, that's creative, and doesn't create any victims.”
“The benefit of a public action is that you're not only sending a message to a particular elected official …but you're also having a public conversation with your community.”
—Rev. Dr. Brooks Berndt
Photo by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona, cropped.
A public conversation calls out discernment and discussion from the bottom to the top. It asks for discernment in the heart of the believer and practitioner. It brings groups of folks together to sort through really big questions with prayerful action. And it is both witness and testimony in the wider community. This testimony is essential for communities, yes, but even more so this testimony is essential for Congress, because Congress has the ability to act at the scale required for the crisis that we face.
Rev. Mel Caraway also spoke to the importance of the faith voice when it comes to congressional action. “Congressional leadership has told us that they need to hear more informed voices about creation justice from the faith perspective.” Knowing this, the exhortation is clear. Says Rev. Caraway, “The Congress needs to hear more from the faith community. That is essential. Our voices need to be heard by our representatives, across the board."
Rev. Berndt also believes that Congress needs to hear from people of faith. There are a lot of ways to approach solutions to the climate crisis, but Rev. Berndt is focusing for now on Congress. He concedes disappointment in the recent missed opportunity to pass a compressive bill, a bill that would have cut childhood poverty in half. But he also spoke to the reality that congress people can be responsive to public voice and pressure and need to know that faith communities care about climate legislation.
“I think the climate crisis is always going to be a uphill battle. There's no silver bullet. There's no quick victories.”
—Rev. Dr. Brooks Berndt
Photo by Kristijan Arsov.
Some faith congregations will find the work to be visible easier than will others. But with practice, comfort in speaking out will grow. After all, testimony comes from a combination of conviction of belief, as well as practice with the actions that are needed. Peter Sergienko shared his experience with his own community, “It's always congregation specific. At the end of the day, my congregation is very comfortable doing policy work and doing public witness and public engagement on a variety of issues. ... We have done deliberate organizing work within Oregon to do outreach to each congressional district and to each representative in Oregon, specifically around climate legislation.”
Sergienko keeps hope alive in both the practice of his convictions and in determination to get up the hill that leads to change. “At some point, some legislative organizing strategy is going to work and I want to get ready for the one that catches hold.” He is in good company with people across the country. “There are lots of organizing efforts around federal legislation and just being in conversation and relationship with Representatives puts you in a place to have those conversations when they come up, and be ready for movement when movement happens.”
Sergienko offered the group this word, also, of wisdom for the work. “I know from experience that this work matters and that we can make a difference as people of faith. We bring a different voice to these conversations compared to what the Representatives are used to hearing. They're used to hearing from people who have money, and we're not coming in there with money. We're coming in there with a moral voice and that makes a difference.”
Indeed, there is a lot of hope ahead. When paired with the action of the community, the mountains are made low and the valleys brought high.
Rev. Dr. Brooks Berndt is the author of two books addressing justice, Sounding the Trumpet, How Churches can Answer God’s Call to Justice, with co-author J. Alfred Smith, and Cathedral on Fire, A Church Handbook for the Climate Crisis. As the Minister for Environmental Justice, Berndt led the way in the issuing of the UCC’s 2020 report titled “Breath to the People: Sacred Air and Toxic Pollution (PDF)” which identifies 100 of the nation’s super polluters and how their toxic emissions threaten communities and children, especially in places such as Houston, Louisiana’s Cancer Alley, and Ohio’s Lake Erie coast. Berndt writes and edits an environmental justice newsletter called The Pollinator. During Berndt’s time at the national setting, the UCC received a Climate Leadership Award from Eco-America for its advocacy work.
Rev. Richenda Fairhurst is here for the friendship and conversations about climate, community, and connection. She organizes the Climate Cafe Multifaith as a co-leader of Faiths4Future. Find her in real life in Southern Oregon, working as Steward of Climate with the nonprofit Circle Faith Future.