Fracking: bringing a Christian perspective to the debate

Lancaster Faith and Justice Commission

When Lancashire Council Councillors refused fracking for shale gas test drilling at two sites this past week, among those following developments closely were members of the Lancaster Diocese Faith and Justice Commission. Its members have worked hard to raise awareness locally of the issues involved, and nationally through the National Justice and Peace Network Environment Working Group. Stephen Garsed of the Commission writes:

Fracking has been a hot topic in Lancashire for the last four years. The Environment Groups of the Anglican Blackburn Diocese and the Lancaster Catholic Diocese's Faith and Justice Commission looked independently at the issues a couple of years ago and produced guidance for their communities. The main aim was to help Christians ask the right questions in a sea of claims and counter claims by the proponents and opponents of fracking. The two papers were considered and endorsed by the church leaders in Lancashire.

We then received an invitation to present a Christian view at a public meeting in Preston Minster organised by Friends of the Earth. We used these two papers as our reference and set out the principles of love of God/love of creation and the consequent imperative for environmental stewardship from the First Commandment and for Social Justice from the Second. We stated that fracking itself was neither right nor wrong, but it was the context in which it was carried out that created the moral issues. We posed a number of questions about how the current proposals fitted with the concepts of stewardship and justice. The presentation was extremely well received. A number of people who evidently had little connection with faith commented that it gave them a framework within which to consider the complex and interacting issues.

One thing led to another and we were invited to give presentations to Lancashire County Council's Development Control Committee, which were listened to very attentively - concepts of environmental stewardship and social justice clearly resonated with Committee members. We also discussed the term "social licence" which is used by the industry to imply local acceptance of its activities. We pointed out that what was needed was actually "informed consent" (a much more positive acceptance by the community and one that had to be founded on "the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth". To proceed without informed consent might be considered to be oppression. Other speakers had already brought to the Committee's attention areas where the industry had been very reticent on the true nature of the proposals and the environmental consequences. We ended with these words of Pope Francis:
"Brothers and sisters: creation is not a property, which we can dispose of at will; much less so is it the property of some, of a few: creation is a gift, it is a present, a wonderful gift that has given us to take care of and to use for the benefit of all, always with respect and gratitude"

We believe that the councillors fully understood the Pope's message in the context of the tussle between those who wanted to exploit the Bowland shale gas and those who wanted to protect the environment from industrial-scale exploitation.

Some may question the churches becoming involved in this debate. However, it is very clear that decisions about the use and control of natural resources, particularly energy, are now moral issues and it is right that Christians have the opportunity to raise those questions. Furthermore, the fact that different denominations demonstrably worked together to bring a prophetic voice to the debate showed many non-believers that Christian concepts and values really are relevant to life in the 21st century.

For more information see: www.lancasterfaithandjustice.co.uk/environment-group/