Combative hope. Religious positions on the climate crisis

Ernst Fürlinger, Catholic theologian and religious scholar; Research Lab Democracy and Society in Transition, University for Continuing Education Krems. Since November 2019, head of the seminar series "Climate Justice: Ethical Reflection and Transformative Action".

Since the threat of man-made climate change entered the public-political consciousness at the end of the 1980s, religious communities, as part of global civil society, have been significant actors in the climate protection movement. Churches and religions emphasise above all the justice dimension of the climate crisis: those most affected are the poor, non-human species, future generations - i.e. those who have contributed nothing to the pollution of the atmosphere. A rapid and determined sustainability transformation is not only called for out of self-protection, but also for ethical reasons. In view of the "lament of the poor and the lament of the earth" (Pope Francis: Laudato Si', No. 49), a "holistic ecology" is needed that not only ends the destruction of the natural foundations of life, but also poverty, hunger, injustice and social inequality. From the perspective of representatives of the religions, the transgression of the "planetary boundaries" calls for a profound transformation - above all for a new understanding of the human being as part of the fabric of the living, the overcoming of the mechanistic view of the world. This raises the question: Is it already too late, or is there hope for a profound "Great Turning" (Joanna Macy)?

Publications a.o.: Hg. (mit S. Kusur), Islam und religiöser Pluralismus, Zürich 2019; Hg. (mit R. Bernhardt), Öffentliches Ärgernis? Moscheebaukonflikte in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz, Zürich 2015; Moscheebaukonflikte in Österreich. Nationale Politik des religiösen Raums im globalen Zeitalter, Göttingen 2013; (Hg.) Der Dialog muss weitergehen. Ausgewählte vatikanische Dokumente zum interreligiösen Dialog, Freiburg 2009; The Touch of Shakti. A Study of nondualistic Kashmir Shaivism, New Delhi 2009; Verstehen durch Berühren. Interreligiöse Hermeneutik am Beispiel des nichtdualistischen Shivaismus von Kaschmir, Wien/Innsbruck 2006.