Operation Noah calls for Oil Fast

Operation Noah, the ecumenical churches environmental charity, is launching an 'Oil Fast' on Sunday, 3 October, as part of its "Exodus from carbon". ON is calling on church communities to embark on their own journey - away from dependence on carbon towards the promised land of a Zero Carbon Britain by 2030.

The Oil Fast on Sunday 3 October is the first step of that journey.

Rev Chris Brice, Chair of Operation Noah said: "The BP disaster revealed the complicity of all, including Christians, in the desecration of the planet. Operation Noah's 'Carbon Exodus' and Oil Fast on 3 October will help Christians abstain from oil, and bring faith, life and practice to bear directly on the urgent task of avoiding catastrophic climate change.

The Christian faith has made a unique contribution to movements for social, political and economic renewal from the Anti-slavery campaign to Jubilee 2000. We can do so again."

Churches around the country will hold their own 'Oil Fast' services. This is a day for action and reflection, for individual lifestyle changes and spiritual inspiration, rooted in the Christian belief that prayer and fasting can bring healing to even the most desperate of situations.

ON is calling on Christians to stop for a day and take stock of our joint and personal complicity in the ongoing drive to exploit ever more challenging and inaccessible oil reserves. We have provided a range of materials: sample sermons, prayers, hymns and a comprehensive guide (with the latest science) to help make Sunday 3 October your 'Oil Fast'.

ON says: "The Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico made everyone aware of one of the wider costs of our global dependence on oil. Combined with this are the unfolding tragedies of the Pakistani floods, landslides in China and the destructive fires which ravaged Russia this summer. Global events of 2010 must be a wake-up call to all - awareness and action are imperative!"

For more information see: www.operationnoah.org/