JourneyOnline
ENI-08-0720
Funafuti, Tuvalu, 8 September (ENI)
Some residents of one of the world’s smallest nations fear that what they call a strange "flood theology" – imported from U.S. fundamentalist Christians – could help sink Tuvalu.
Located in the South Pacific, Tuvalu is on the frontline of the climate change debate as recent scientific research shows that all nine islands that make up the country could be flooded within 30 years due to rising sea levels.
This highly religious nation says it is being inundated with a quirky, climate change-denying theology, based on the story of Noah and the biblical flood.
Some residents say the thinking in this theology asserts that the people of the Pacific do not need to worry about climate change, because the Bible states that God promised to Noah not to send another flood that would destroy the earth. According to the biblical account in the book of Genesis (9:11-17), God placed a rainbow in the sky as a symbol of this promise.
A survey conducted by the Christian Church of Tuvalu (Ekalesia Kelisiano Tuvalu, or EKT) showed that up to 20 percent of the church-going population hold to this biblical interpretation. Those most likely to accept the Noah theology, and therefore doing nothing to save the country, are those aged between 40 and 60.
As the EKT covers more than 90 percent of the island nation’s people the figures reflect the sentiment of that segment of the entire population of 12 000.
Rev Tafue Lusama, the social justice secretary of the EKT said the figures represent a significant problem in dealing with climate change: "If our people do not accept the reality how can we unite to fight it? How can we respond as a nation, if we deny we have a problem, and we are dealing with our very survival?"
It is also a problem recognised by the government of Tuvalu, with an aide to the prime minister saying, "The Church has a major contribution to make in the climate change debate by educating the people to its reality."
The church leadership is also convinced of the need to confront climate change at the global level.
The president of the EKT, Rev Tofiga Falani, told Ecumenical News International, "Let the world know our message: there are living souls on these precious little atolls. It is precious land, and we need their [the world’s] support and assistance to help save us."
Lusama said the church had a plan to confront the anti-climate change theology, including training pastors to explain the problem to the people. He said, "Climate change is something we [Tuvaluans] didn’t have any part in. We of the low-lying countries are innocent in the face of this. Why should we suffer this system that unjustly oppresses us?"
As Lusama sees it, his church and nation, though small, have a big job to do: "I see ourselves not only saving the people of Tuvalu but we have the responsibility to be heard globally and to help them save themselves.
"Remember, if Tuvalu goes under today you go under tomorrow."
