London, UK - The Church of England is asking members to cut back on illuminating churches, eight years after embracing a multimillion-pound scheme to install floodlights at 400 places of worship.
A guide endorsed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, states that vicars should try to curb their use of floodlights in an attempt to reduce their carbon footprint.
The guide, Don't Stop at the Lights, suggests that nightly lighting is an extravagance and that illumination should be reserved for special occasions such as sponsored evenings in memory of a loved one or to celebrate an anniversary.
The advice represents a sudden drop in enthusiasm for exterior lighting, which peaked in 2000 when the Millennium Commission awarded £2.3million of lottery money to the Church Floodlighting Trust.
A member of the team that helped to oversee the Church Floodlighting Scheme said that the advice could be excessive. Roger Gardner, a lighting consultant and a churchwarden, said that churches were already cautious because of rising energy prices.
“Churches are at the mercy of energy companies like the rest of us,” he said. “I don't think that many churches would be profligate.”
He added that it was a sweeping statement to suggest that many churches could be wasting energy. “If you're sitting where I am, you think to yourself: ‘There's little else I can do'. If you're sitting where are, you probably feel the need to make a statement about the environment,” he said.
A spokesman for the Church of England said that vicars should take into account whether lighting is an important deterrent to thieves and vandals when deciding when to reduce their use of floodlights. “We are conscious that there are certain church buildings where floodlighting is part of security and people use it as a walkway. That would be taken into account when deciding whether or not to cut back on floodlighting,” he said.
The guide has also been given the backing of the Bishop of London, Dr Richard Chartres.
He said: “This book offers us not just tips on energy saving but a re-orientation. The intention is not to urge Christians to get measured for a hair shirt but to rediscover ‘how good and joyful a thing it is to dwell together in unity' with all that lives.”
Dr Williams said: “All Christians have an important role to play in developing their own environmental awareness and encouraging it in others. I am delighted that the Church of England now has this helpful guide, which will prove invaluable for those wanting to plan their own services and for all those looking to find a deeper theological understanding of our Christian concern for Creation.”
The book also suggests recycling tips such as setting up decoration “swap shops” before Christmas and measures to promote greater awareness of the natural world. Churches might consider pet services and cultivating churchyards as havens for rare plants and wildlife, it says.
It further suggests reviving ancient church ceremonies such as the tradition of “beating of the bounds”, in which congregations would tour the boundaries of a parish.