Archbishop makes green plea

Dr Rowan Williams told worshippers at Canterbury Cathedral that "human greed" threatened to distort the fragile balance of the Earth.

He warned against using the world as a "warehouse of resources to serve humanity's selfishness" and urged Christians to do more to protect the environment.

The Primate told the congregation the message of Christmas was about God's love for creation, and the resulting need for humanity to protect the world He created.

"The whole point of creation is that there should be persons... capable of intimacy with God - not so that God can gain something, but so that these created beings may live in joy," he said.

"And God's way of making sure that this joy is fully available is to join humanity on Earth so that human beings may recognise what they are and what they are for."

People should, as a result, treat each other and nature with "reverence", in Dr Williams' view.

"More and more (is) clearly required of us as we grow in awareness of how fragile is the balance of species and environments in the world and just how our greed distorts it," he said.

"When we threaten the balance of things, we don't just put our material survival at risk; more profoundly we put our spiritual sensitivity at risk - the possibility of being opened up to endless wonder by the world around us.

"Yes, it (the world) exists in one sense for humanity's sake; but it exists in its own independence and beauty for humanity's sake - not as a warehouse of resources to serve humanity's selfishness."

Dr Williams had a wry dig at an outspoken atheist, Professor Richard Dawkins, whose writing about his amazement at the Earth's diversity of plant and animal life he quotes at length.

He said Prof Dawkins's comments echoed the sentiments of a Spanish saint, St John.

He also spoke of the need for respect for other people and praised "brave and loving people" in Israel and Palestine.

"The delight and reverence we should have towards the things of creation is intensified many times where human relationships are concerned," he said.

"And if peace is to be more than a pause in open conflict, it must be grounded in this passionate amazed reverence for others."

He added: "In today's Bethlehem, still ravaged by fear and violence, we can still meet the God who has made human tears his own and still works ceaselessly for his purpose of peace and rejoicing, through the witness of brave and loving people on both sides of the dividing wall."

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