Mark Hart, a member of the Anglican clergy in the UK, has written an article today in The Times (UK) commenting on a new report -- called Sharing God's Planet -- that the Church of England will issue and debate tomorrow (16 February), as well as recent statements sanctioned by the Church on free trade, equating the former with "AIDS, drought and tsunamis".

In the report, the Church has rubber-stamped 'contraction and convergence' as a policy approach to climate change. (For more about contraction and convergence, read an article that I wrote for the Journal of Engineering Sustainability)

Hart takes issue generally with the church using its divine authority to comment on matters political, whether free trade or the environment:

To imagine that the Church has a special revelation that enables it to cut through these complex issues is like expecting the Met Office to forecast the date of the Second Coming. The Church should not so casually claim Christ’s authority to adopt a corporate position which may be proved wrong, while excluding faithful dissenters.