Clergywomen: United Methodists Should Step Up Public Witness on Climate Crisis

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A United Methodist Insight Exclusive

Two days after participating in a major oil pipeline protest with indigenous leaders in Minnesota, three clergywomen expressed hope that their United Methodist siblings will be spurred to more public witness on behalf of a planet facing deadly consequences from human-caused climate change and other interlocking forms of oppression.

They say they understand how daunting the breadth and complexity of the climate crisis can be, but that the time is urgent for people of faith to stand up to activities that are causing climate injustices around the world, said the Rev. Susan Mullin, the Rev. Dana Neuhauser, and the Rev. Nancy Victorin-Vangerud in a Zoom interview with United Methodist Insight.

“In Deuteronomy 30:19, Moses puts before the Israelites a choice of life or death. We’re in a similar moment where we must choose life or death,” said Rev. Mullin, who retired Aug. 27 as director of faith community organizing for Minnesota Interfaith Power & Light, a well-known nonprofit working with faith communities to address the climate crisis.

“The United Nations general secretary called the latest climate change report ‘code red for humanity,’ Rev. Mullin said. “Simply put, we’re killing ourselves.”

Ordained deacons Mullin and Neuhauser and ordained elder Victorin-Vangerud were among an estimated 2,000 people who joined in the Treaties Not Tar Sands demonstrations Aug. 25 at the Minnesota State Capitol in Minneapolis. The event was the latest in their longtime opposition to the Line 3 pipeline.

“Susan, Nancy and I have been showing up for this particular issue for years,” said Rev. Neuhauser of the Treaties Not Tar Sands protest.

Rev. Mullin said the demonstration, organized and managed by indigenous leaders, was a last-ditch effort to stop completion of the Line 3 oil pipeline under construction by Enbridge, a Canadian company. Planned to bring tar-sands crude from Calgary, Alberta to Superior, Wis., the pipeline crosses the headwaters of the Mississippi River and treaty lands where the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) people retain rights to hunt, fish, and gather.

Comparisons to Standing Rock

Rev. Neuhauser noted interesting comparisons between Line 3 protests and 2016 protests against the Dakota pipeline near the Standing Rock Reservation in South Dakota. Dozens of United Methodists, especially from the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference, participated in Standing Rock demonstrations.

“Line 3 crosses more than 200 bodies of water including crossing the Mississippi twice, where the Dakota pipeline was a single site,” she said, “With Line 3, we’re all downstream if you look at maps of the watershed. For example, Minneapolis draws all its water from the Mississippi.”

Rev. Neuhauser explained that issues around the Line 3 protests include upholding treaties with the Anishinaabe nation; the pipeline’s effects on the environment; the oil industry’s contributions to greenhouse gases that are causing global warming; and the racial implications of environmentally dangerous sites often located in communities of color.

“Gov. (Tim) Walz said to ‘trust the process’ about the pipeline, but has the process ever served Native Americans well?” asked Rev. Mullin. “Why would we think it would serve them well now? The ‘process’ is structured to benefit business-as-usual, to maintain business-as-usual.

“When we say we don’t want a pipeline, the regulations aren’t set up to support us,” she said.

Repudiating ‘Doctrine of Discovery’

While the fight over Line 3 continues to play out politically and through courts, the Treaties Not Tar Sands protest amply showed why United Methodists need to engage and increase their public witness on creation care, said Rev. Neuhauser.

“Some of the most powerful moments at Standing Rock came when various denominations repudiated the ‘Doctrine of Discovery’,” said Rev. Neuhauser, referring to a 1493 papal decree granting Europeans the “right” to conquer and exploit the Americas, which were considered "empty" lands despite an indigenous population of some 100 million people.

“We’ve said the pretty words and now is the time is to put energy into living into that repudiation,” she continued. “We have blood on our hands as Christians. It’s not enough to repudiate; we have to bust the system if we’re going to live into our baptismal covenant for the sake of the water with which we’re welcomed into church.”

Rev. Victorin-Vangerud, who also retired from full-time ministry in August, agreed. “We’re building on the church’s 2012 Act of Repentance. We are ‘repenting,’ as George Tinker teaches.  Repentance is a verb; it’s active.”

“It’s a good thing we have Jesus to show us what kenosis [self-emptying] looks like,” chuckled Rev. Neuhauser. “[With creation care efforts] we’re putting our baptized boots on the ground, and it’s going to cost us money, time and our egos.”

Rev. Mullin, who was part of a Minnesota group that created the EarthKeepers movement which has become a General Board of Global Ministries program, added that “we have a lot of people in the UMC that care about God’s creation and climate justice, but we seem to be lacking in the know-how about how to create change.

“We created EarthKeepers to teach people about community organizing at local levels,” said Rev. Mullin. “The Methodist movement was originally about community organization, but we’ve lost those skills.”

Rev. Mullin said she recognized how hard it can be for United Methodists to take on public witness around creation justice.

“I’m optimistic but also realistic about how big the change is and how hard it is to do that,” she said. “I say that with humility because I realize how long it’s taken me to get where I am. I have lots of sympathy and understanding for folks who aren’t comfortable doing organizing.”

What next for activists?

So, what did the three activists think their participation in Treaties Not Tar Sands accomplished?

“I came home and wrote two checks – one to Honor the Earth, Winona LaDuke’s organization, to fund bail money for the 700 people who’ve been arrested in the Line 3 protests, and one to the Dakota Land Recovery Project that builds earth lodges and reclaims indigenous culture,” said Rev. Victorin-Vangerud. “I keep hoping the Minnesota governor or the president will stop Line 3 even while attending to Afghanistan.”

Rev. Victorin-Vangerud, who served 14 years as chaplain at Hamline University, saw Treaties Not Tar Sands as another step in her longtime advocacy. “Justice doesn’t retire,” she quipped.

She added that she believes Christians, including United Methodists, need to take a sharp, critical look at the theologies that are supporting planet-destroying industries and lifestyles.

“To me what’s at a crossroads is the integrity of our theology,” said Rev. Victorin-Vangerud. “Our entire doctrinal system needs to be totally examined – the hubris of humans being sovereign over creation; the idea that God would rescue us no matter what we did to the world; that whole notion of ‘going on to perfection.’ We have to interrogate our theology and examine who pays the price for our actions.

“Churches have a credibility issue because of all that’s gone wrong but mentoring young people in public witness can help,” she continued. “We can focus on sustainable community agriculture and change from industrial to regenerative agriculture in urban and non-urban settings. We may not be able to save the entire planet, but we can save some communities.”

Rev. Mullin said that since she’s retired from “gainful employment,” she plans to continue her advocacy by volunteering.

“I think a hurdle for United Methodists who want to become engaged is having someone to go with,” Rev. Mullin said. “We should all wear same T-shirt, travel together, meet at a certain spot, have some food. We can make public witness a normal thing by helping people get into it in ways that make it comfortable for them.”

‘Metabolize heartbreak into action’

Meanwhile, Rev. Neuhauser, who serves as minister of public witness at New City Church in Minneapolis and as the Minnesota Conference’s newly assigned racial justice coordinator, sees creation care efforts as part of an interlocking web of justice issues on which the church should take the lead.

“For me, it’s key to honor the people who walked from the headwaters (to the state capitol for the protest), centering the voices of indigenous leaders, of young people, of folks who literally put their lives on the line for this (Line 3 protest),” she said. “We need to hear their frontline stories, like the reality that international corporate funding paid for law enforcement along the pipeline route to buy new equipment and pay overtime for security. That then turned into rubber bullets that are used against indigenous women (to deter their protests).

“We’re asking the wrong questions if we’re only asking if it’s legal for people to protest; the land and water and animals can’t protect themselves,” Rev. Neuhauser said. “There are so many layers to it; we must hold and bear witness to these stories. I will preach on their stories and share them to train and equip people for future events. We can honor the power of stories being able to metabolize heartbreak into action.”

Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011. This article is part of Insight's ongoing reporting as a participant in Covering Climate Now, a worldwide collaboration among some 400 news outlets committed to enhanced reporting on the global climate crisis.