Are the oil sands God's business?

By John Hiemstra  |  Special to ChristianWeek

Picture a beautiful summer evening at the cottage in which your family is hosting a barbeque for Sophie, an un-churched neighbour.

The hamburgers are just hitting the grill when Sophie suddenly blurts out: “I’ve read in the newspaper that Premier Ed Stelmach is a Christian. I wonder, are the oil sands developments in northeast Alberta God’s business?”

You start formulating a brilliant evangelistic pitch in your mind, when she hesitatingly continues.

“Because, you know, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is also Christian. He says Canada is now ‘a global energy powerhouse’ and that his government ‘intends to build’ an ‘energy superpower.’ He told British investors recently that the oil sands developments are ‘an enterprise of epic proportions, akin to the building of the pyramids or China’s Great Wall. Only bigger.’”

Start with the facts, you remind yourself, start with the facts and end with the Good News.

“Alberta Department of Energy estimates,” you observe matter-of-factly, “that Alberta has the second largest petroleum reserves in the world, second only to Saudi Arabia. About 175 billion barrels of bitumen are deemed recoverable right now, and there are 1.7 to 2.5 trillion barrels in oil sands deposits.

“Now isn’t that a gift from God to be used with gratitude?” you conclude, gently tilling the soil for your upcoming evangelistic pitch.
Before you can broadcast the seed to the waiting soil, however, Sophie continues.

“I’ve heard about a number of problems and risks linked to the oil sands. It’s a pretty long list too! For example: growing toxic tailings ponds, massive open pit mines, increasing greenhouse gas emissions that threaten climate change, permanent loss of wetlands and peat bogs in the boreal forest, family breakdown as spouses or parents live far away in work camps, increasing drug abuse and prostitution, water pollution and impending water scarcity, labour shortages and problems arising for temporary foreign workers, spiralling housing shortages, rental rate increases, public infrastructure shortages on all sides, threatening inflation, problems with surface-land reclamation, building upgrader plants on prime agricultural land, and more.”
You begin to suspect this is no longer smalltalk. She seems to have struggled with this for some time.

“Some Fort McMurray congregations,” you reply, “now provide pastoral counselling and social services to persons hurt by the boom.” You decide not to mention to Sophie, at least not just yet, that churches are also evangelizing new citizens working in camps.
“That’s great,” she replies, “but what about the rest of my list of problems?”

It’s time to bring out the heavy theological artillery, you think. You plan to start with, “The Earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it” (Psalm 24:1), then talk about creation, the cultural mandate and stewardship, closing off by showing how God is blessing us with prosperity.

Sophie seems to warm up to the theology lesson. But after you explain that stewardship means giving 10 per cent of your earnings and/or profits to Christian causes, she politely cuts in.

“It doesn’t take a PhD to figure out,” she says, “that Christians are involved in every aspect of exploiting the oil sands through businesses, banks and investment houses, unions, consulting firms, government agencies and much more. Even Stelmach says he is a Christian and pushes for rapid growth in the oil sands.”

“Maybe,” she adds reflectively, “they are all giving 10 per cent to missions or their church. But does that really deal with the other problems I raised with the oil sands developments? Can tithing 10 per cent sanctify all of the damage we are doing to God’s creation? Does the gospel include a promise of healing and reconciliation for all of creation?”

You begin to suspect she’s read the Bible before.
“Well its true,” you concede, “most churches and Christian groups are deadly silent on the long list of problems associated with the oil sands boom.”

“I heard the oil sands deposits are 140,200 square kilometres,” Sophie adds, “an area larger than the state of Florida or twice the size of New Brunswick. So, what is God’s business in an oil sands territory this size?”

You’re flustered and unsure of what she’s actually asking. Does she mean: what is God’s business in the oil sands, or how do businesses serve God in the oil sands? You surprise yourself by thinking that perhaps the two are not all that different.
You’re shaken back to reality when Sophie fills the awkward pause.

“I wonder,” she asks, “could I become a Christian if God has no business in the oil sands?”

Now you’re really unsure of what she means by “God’s business.” The questions and challenges are piling up in your mind. The hamburgers start to burn. You’re suddenly sure of one thing, however. The tables have turned.

What originally seemed like a simple opportunity to pop the evangelistic question has totally reversed itself. Sophie is now asking whether the way Christians live in regards to the oil sands really looks inviting enough for her to seriously consider the gospel.

John Hiemstra is just returning from a year of sabbatical study of the oil sands development boom. He is professor of political studies and dean of the faculty of social sciences at The King’s University College in Edmonton, Alberta.

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