6 Climate Justice and God’s Justice …
109
appropriate humility in the face of God’s discipline, and threatens an even worse
catastrophe.
If the Otin Taai Declaration was intended to change the thinking of Pacific Christians about the causes of climate change, it has not been successful. The notion
that God did not directly cause the Cyclone, and that climate change was responsible, were dismissed by some Pacific Islanders who suggest that God works through
climate change (Cox et al. 2019). An article in The Contemporary Pacific records
the disdain one Fijian had for the Fiji Sun newspaper, which apparently expressed
contempt for the divine wrath narrative:
Some religious-minded people, like me, are beginning to or had already analysed the two
natural disasters that have befallen Fiji as driven by the wrath of God. The unbelieving Fiji
Sun and many others have called this thought idiotic and blamed it on climate change. Lest
these unbelievers do not realise that even climate change is the wrath of God given that
mankind has disturbed the balance of nature by his stupid manipulations of the environment.
Surely the Fiji Sun is not as naive as it proclaimed. However, from a biblical context these
calamities are similar to what befell the Israelites when they turned away from God and
worshipped idols and sinned in front of God. (cited in Cox et al. 2018, p. 400)
This is not an uncommon view among Pacific Christians. The Contemporary
Pacific article (Cox et al. 2018) records many other similar perspectives to this.
Focusing on the aftermath of the Category 5 Tropical Cyclone Winston, which struck
Fiji on 20 February 2016, the authors document some of the many explanations for
the Cyclone. Even though the Pacific nations are apparent victims of climate injustice,
Pacific Islanders often fully blame themselves for such natural disasters. To many
Fijians, the causes for Cyclone Winston and other disasters were human sin. Within
the context of Fiji, ordinary Fijians highlighted the following sins which they believed
precipitated the Cyclone and its selective impacts:
• the current Bainimarama government’s 2013 constitution, which makes Fiji a
multi-racial and secular state (pp. 390, 397, 398)
• grog or kava drinking along with sabbath violations on Koro Island before it was
heavily devastated by Cyclone Winston (p. 391)
• “breaking of a particular agreement or covenant between God and Fijians” (p. 393)
• general rebellion against God (p. 393)
• the non-removal of unfaithful leaders (p. 395)
• misuse of power for self-benefit instead of returning Fiji to the correct path
(p. 398).
There is a clear political or moral interpretation given here. It is notable that
there are no ecological sins mentioned, thereby disconnecting ecological sin from
ecological punishment.
In another example that illustrates this, the authors mention the floods in the city
of Nadi in 2012. Positioned near resorts frequented by vacationing Australians and
New Zealanders, some Fijians attributed the flooding to God’s punishment of “the
permissive sexual behavior allowed by the tourist industry” and especially homosexuality (Cox et al. 2018, p. 390). At the grassroots level, then, much more work needs
109
appropriate humility in the face of God’s discipline, and threatens an even worse
catastrophe.
If the Otin Taai Declaration was intended to change the thinking of Pacific Christians about the causes of climate change, it has not been successful. The notion
that God did not directly cause the Cyclone, and that climate change was responsible, were dismissed by some Pacific Islanders who suggest that God works through
climate change (Cox et al. 2019). An article in The Contemporary Pacific records
the disdain one Fijian had for the Fiji Sun newspaper, which apparently expressed
contempt for the divine wrath narrative:
Some religious-minded people, like me, are beginning to or had already analysed the two
natural disasters that have befallen Fiji as driven by the wrath of God. The unbelieving Fiji
Sun and many others have called this thought idiotic and blamed it on climate change. Lest
these unbelievers do not realise that even climate change is the wrath of God given that
mankind has disturbed the balance of nature by his stupid manipulations of the environment.
Surely the Fiji Sun is not as naive as it proclaimed. However, from a biblical context these
calamities are similar to what befell the Israelites when they turned away from God and
worshipped idols and sinned in front of God. (cited in Cox et al. 2018, p. 400)
This is not an uncommon view among Pacific Christians. The Contemporary
Pacific article (Cox et al. 2018) records many other similar perspectives to this.
Focusing on the aftermath of the Category 5 Tropical Cyclone Winston, which struck
Fiji on 20 February 2016, the authors document some of the many explanations for
the Cyclone. Even though the Pacific nations are apparent victims of climate injustice,
Pacific Islanders often fully blame themselves for such natural disasters. To many
Fijians, the causes for Cyclone Winston and other disasters were human sin. Within
the context of Fiji, ordinary Fijians highlighted the following sins which they believed
precipitated the Cyclone and its selective impacts:
• the current Bainimarama government’s 2013 constitution, which makes Fiji a
multi-racial and secular state (pp. 390, 397, 398)
• grog or kava drinking along with sabbath violations on Koro Island before it was
heavily devastated by Cyclone Winston (p. 391)
• “breaking of a particular agreement or covenant between God and Fijians” (p. 393)
• general rebellion against God (p. 393)
• the non-removal of unfaithful leaders (p. 395)
• misuse of power for self-benefit instead of returning Fiji to the correct path
(p. 398).
There is a clear political or moral interpretation given here. It is notable that
there are no ecological sins mentioned, thereby disconnecting ecological sin from
ecological punishment.
In another example that illustrates this, the authors mention the floods in the city
of Nadi in 2012. Positioned near resorts frequented by vacationing Australians and
New Zealanders, some Fijians attributed the flooding to God’s punishment of “the
permissive sexual behavior allowed by the tourist industry” and especially homosexuality (Cox et al. 2018, p. 390). At the grassroots level, then, much more work needs