Macedonia,

I’m not even sure it’s about spreading the “faith” for the Phanar. I have always wondered if there was not a pure financial and political calculation behind: The Phanar’s “Green-ness” and the RCC’s and the OCA’s opposition to the death penalty. Allow me to explain.

Think of the Church, for a moment, as a business, a business built on profit. Now, if you take a look at America and Western Europe, you’ll notice a culture war going on – – moreso here than in Europe. So, you might surmise, there are both conservatives and liberals in our church. Convert parishes tend to be more morally conservative than that of predominantly cradle parishes, but nonetheless, on the whole, unfortunately, the variety of opinion in the church reflects that of the general public.

So the question becomes, “How do we preserve and expand market share?”. Well, you try to give the people what they want. “Find out what’s selling and then make sure you have truckloads of it.” as my father used to say.

Now, moral conservatism (albeit a very moderate form) is in vogue among a broad swath of the American public, perhaps 30% or so. And Orthodoxy is inherently quite conservative (moreso than perhaps some Americans would find immediately appealing, hence modernist Orthodoxy, a compromise to accomodate American sensibilities). But what about the rest of the potential customers? Can’t let them get away.

Ah!!!! Perhaps there are things in liberal thinking we can incorporate into Orthodoxy (or Roman Catholicism) which would draw them in. We have pretty icons and moving music. It’s the conservatism that turns some off so perhaps we can exhibit some liberalism too. Then they can soothe their consciences with the notion that, “the Orthodox (or the RCC) are good about some things and the rest we can ‘work on’ (a/k/a, ‘change the church from within’)”.

This, I suspect, is the mentality that is animating this behavior in the Phanar, the OCA and in the RCC. Crass commercialism.

This is an example of how NOT to spread the faith.

Andrew, also please notice that there was no looting at all in Japan. The stoic courage of these people is a blessing to all mankind. As for using this tragedy to push an ideological point, I am most saddened.

The wise counsel of Elder Paisios might be of help.

Father Paisios was once asked about the end of times and the difficulty Christians who refuse to use credit cards (or whatever will be in use) stamped with the mark of satan, will encounter concerning food.

He replied that for Christians used to a little bread and and a couple of olives there will be no problem. There will be a problem though for those Christians who are used to having 5 different types of cheeses on their table when they dine.

Some claim that millions of people live good and faithful Christian lives without ever fasting. Fasting requires reasonable precautions and preparation.

Truth is alternative ‘fuels’ could not handle a sliver of a fraction of the energy required just to heat our homes in the spring, let alone transport food and medicine to our stores.

I would love to live without nuclear power, but I’d rather not let millions die and starve instead.

This is obviously anti-nuclear activism, totally disconnected from the issues that currently affect people’s lives in Japan and focused on abstract global problems and hypotheticals. In Japan hundreds of thousands people are homeless and millions without food, water, power or heating in near-freezing temperatures.

Chris, I agree 100%. The Green Patriarch isn’t really “Green” at all. He is the Poverty Patriarch because the policies he endorses such as this call end to Nuclear Energy will result in the spread of poverty around the world. There is no utopia. There is no world without risk. 20.2% of electricity in the USA is produced by Nuclear Energy. How do you replace this?

Btw, how many Mercury filled CFL lightbulbs broke during the Earthquake? Should we ban those too?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704893604576198421680697248.html

And from John Stossel:

http://reason.com/archives/2010/04/01/what-we-know-that-isnt-so

Apparently, the problem with nuclear reactors isn’t that they’re inherently dangerous, it’s that private investors won’t put up the money for them without extensive government guarantees on the investment. It seems that banks don’t think that nuclear power plants are a profitable investment.

The Chernobyl reactor was an extremely faulty reactor. It was cooled by only water, and used graphite to moderate the neutrons in the fission reaction. This meant that with a loss of water, the fission reaction at Chernobyl increased uncontrollably. It basically became a dirty bomb.

The Chernobyl design was only possible in the Soviet system. Nobody uses reactors like that anymore, and the Japanese create especially hardened and contained reactors.

Stop the fear mongering.

The issue that hits me with seismic force in this tragedy is that of human suffering – of the sudden and violent deaths of many thousands of innocent human beings at the mercy of the winds and waves which are controlled by our loving and merciful God. Certainly this is not an issue for me alone – it is probably the most fundamental and powerful weapon atheists use in their polemics against Christian faith. On this enigma – at least in this statement (which will get all the international media attention) – our Patriarch is basically AWOL. ”Dude, bummer, can’t help you there…”

Yet though God’s actions in nature are apparently unfathomable here, Bartholomew seems to be saying that the threat of reactor meltdowns is quite another thing. Huh? Who is this personified “nature” who is capable of being insulted and provoked, and who turns “her” back on human beings? I’m sure I’ve never encountered her in Orthodox Christianity. Is our God not equally capable of controlling outcomes in the world of technology – indeed, in ANY aspect of His creation?

It sounds to me as if our Patriarch is not so brave after all, perhaps even trying to dissemble a bit. We “insiders” in Orthodoxy are to understand that God actually HAS punished thousands of innocent people for their insolence in daring not to be “green”. (wink, wink) But for the rest of the world, let’s just vaguely attribute the punishment to – what? – nature? Gaia? That will resonate well with the European new agers, I suppose. If he were to pin this overtly on God, Bartholomew would sound too much like an American fundamentalist preacher, and that would be jarringly dissonant with his carefully-constructed image of a wise old green Dumbledore, with his archaic but harmless spirituality.

Frankly, this is not remotely the episcopal comfort and teaching I had hoped to hear. Not that what I hope for is what is best for me. But I also doubt that this will ease the misery and recovery of our beloved brothers and sisters in Japan at this time of great tragedy. As well-timed as this sound bite might be for maximum press coverage, and for its resonance with the general green “told you so” anti-nuclear pile-on, this is no time to wag the finger at a stricken nation for their embrace of what was presented to them as reasonable, clean energy. Current solar/wind/wave energy technologies are nowhere near adequate for Japan’s huge population and available natural resources.

The Japanese had prepared their reactors for the strongest earthquake they could reasonably expect – an 8.2 quake. And these reactors are so heavily contained that even if they melt down, there won’t be any significant release of radiation into the atmosphere.

Japan is an example of how nuclear power can be done correctly. They build extremely well-engineered power plants on a very seismically active island, and even in a worst case scenario like this quake there still won’t be any significant problems.

But that doesn’t prevent certain groups from taking advantage of the current hysteria to further their own agenda. And it’s very disappointing that His All Holiness seems to believe in the fantasy of constant technological progress that will allow us to come to some utopia of risk-free energy.

This explains very well why the reactors will remain contained.