Church leaders condemn logging

By Lisa Macdonald In an unprecedented coalition, 20 leaders of the Anglican, Uniting and Catholic churches sent a letter on October 22 calling on the Labor Party and the Coalition to end logging of Australia's old growth forests. The open letter states that to continue to log old growth forests, "for whatever purpose", is "ethically and even morally wrong.". Calling on the major parties "to stop logging of old growth forests on both private but especially public land", the letter concludes, "There is simply no economic justification for this to continue in the face of our ethical obligations to protect the natural world". "God was the first genuine greenie" said Father Brian Gore in a media statement released by the coalition. "When the creator looked at the creation the conclusion was 'it is good'. It is up to us to protect not destroy this gift", Gore said. The churches' letter also expresses concern for the communities involved in logging and calls on governments and industry to provide retraining and restructuring for workers in the plantation timber industry.