The Jury is not out

 In a world where large corporations make millions with products that damage the environment, it is difficult to find a way to protest that will make the corporate leaders pay sufficient attention  to change their behaviour. Damaging property is not something that the church supports, but we can understand the frustration that leads concerned people to take unusual actions in order to bring attention to the problem. 

The Guardian reported on the trial of a set of Extinction Rebellion protesters who: "...deliberately sprayed graffiti or smashed windows of the Shell building in Belvedere Road, central London, on 15 April 2019." One of the protesters, "quoted Sir David Attenborough and former archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams in his evidence." 

"He said: “I believe if I don’t do whatever I can to protect our Earth, to protect life on this Earth, to stop the death and injury that is and will be happening, I’m committing a crime, a really serious crime, and I’m willing to break a window, to paint a message on a wall, I’m willing to break the glass on that emergency button, even if some say that’s a crime. Because this is a much bigger crime and I’m trying to stop that crime, I’m trying to protect life in the only way I feel I can.” (SOURCE)

The defendants fully expected to be declared guilty in the trial, and were surprised when the jury acquitted them, despite the judge's instructions that: 'They don’t have any defence in law for the charges they face." It is a safety valve in the legal system that a jury can ignore the law. 

What does this acquittal mean in terms of protecting the environment? Probably very little in the short run. Corporations will continue polluting, and governments will continue to make empty statements, but it does show that 12 ordinary British citizens have accepted the fact that this planet faces a serious problem. There is legal precedent for putting people on trial were complicit in actions that cause mass death and destruction, but the guilty parties may face judgment only once they reach a higher celestial court 

In the meantime, even small steps help to preserve God's creation. Please do what you can.

Comments

Unknown said…
Nice case! Its ideal that rationality backed by law would have made the decision much more easier; however, the jury uses their intuition inherent in every human to decide for nature. It's our wish that our conscious towards our actions is aligned to nature's wellbeing.
4/25/21, 4:37 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mining the Ocean

 Those who grew up watching Star Trek, or have seen its reruns, will remember the phrase: "Space: the final frontier". Actually space is not really the final frontier. The Guardian (27 September 2021) reports: "humanity knows more about deep space than the deep ocean". The context of this statement is worth examining because it involves a new and serious threat to our planet: " In late June, the island republic of Nauru informed the International Seabed Authority (ISA) based in Kingston, Jamaica of its intention to start mining the seabed in two years’ time via a subsidiary of a Canadian firm, The Metals Company (TMC, until recently known as DeepGreen). Innocuous as it sounds, this note was a starting gun for a resource race on the planet’s last vast frontier: the abyssal plains that stretch between continental shelves deep below the oceans. " (Guardian, 27 September) ( LINK ) The article goes on to quote "Louisa Casson, an oceans campaigner at Greenp...
Read more

Church of England Eco church web

  The Church of England is actively committed to promoting "care for God's creation through their worship, buildings, land, community engagement, and individual lifestyles." Here is a LINK to the full official statement on the website. St. George's Anglican / Episcopal church in Berlin has made the same commitment. One of the purposes of this blog is to offer parish members a source of current information about environmental matters.  Our  Preußenallee  building  is under "Denkmalschutz", which protects the original architectural design. While this is an advantage, it also limits what we can do to the physical plant. The Eco Church committee will look at how to make the building and grounds more ecologically friendly, but we should also remember that there is much we can do in our private lives to act in ecologically responsible ways.  --Michael
Read more