The Fifth and Sixth Horsemen

THE BISHOP OF OXFORD'S 'PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS' ON THE STATE OF OUR PLANET

The day before 'Wild Isles' was launched on the BBC, the Rt, Revd, Dr Steven Croft, Bishop of Oxford was also reflecting on the fact that Britain is currently one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world and "the once rich tapestry of life on earth is now being degraded year by year because of the expansion and greed of a single species: ourselves."

In his eloquent and thought-provoking Presidential Address to the Oxford Diocesan Synod on 11th March 2023, he contemplated the horsemen of the apocalypse with two new riders - the fifth invisible horseman representing the unseen blanket of green-house gas that silently envelops the earth, causing climate devastation around the world and the sixth, a grey horse, working in a silent undermining of the web of life, representing "the systematic destruction of nature and the natural world - the second great environmental challenge of our time."

Alluding to the fact that they work together in a spiral of destruction, Bishop Steven described how biodiversity loss and global heating are interlinked and need to be addressed together, on a local and global scale. "Our life is inextricably linked to and dependent on the biodiversity of the Earth ...this is a critical moment and Christians need to care. The Bible teaches us from Genesis to Revelation that humanity is part of God's creation with a particular relationship with the natural world. We have been given a sacred responsibility to serve and steward and watch over the earth: the land and the water and all that lives in them. Restoring our relationship with the earth is therefore core to our own salvation, won by Christ on the cross. We need not just to conserve but to restore the natural world carefully and intentionally in the coming decade."

Below is a recording of his inspiring Presidential Address:-