Moral Injury Repair
When faced with the enormity of the environmental crisis, many of us feel our individual efforts are inadequate and may feel guilty about our own contributions the crisis. We may find ourselves feeling betrayed by government and corporate inaction and powerless in the face of this. Our core beliefs are violated. This is moral injury. What can religious communities do to help people recover and to sustain efforts to respond to climate change?
What is Moral Injury?
Moral injury results from irreconcilable moral conflicts arising from the harm we cause, fail to prevent, or experience from others that violates our core values and involves feelings such as guilt, remorse, shame, outrage, sorrow and grief. If unaddressed, moral injury undermines relationships and can lead to cynicism or despair. Many people are experiencing moral injury in relation to the devastation and ongoing threats of climate change and ecological breakdown.
Moral Injury and the Climate Crisis
Joan Ishibashi shares her personal experience of childhood in Los Angeles and the recent devastating fires across California, and explores how a moral injury framework might help us come to terms with our personal and collective responsibility for the climate and ecological crisis.
The Transformative Power of Moral Injury Repair
In January 2025, Revd Dr Rita Nakashima Brock and Revd Dr Susan Diamond led an introductory webinar on moral injury and the climate crisis. They discussed how moral injury is a sign of mental and moral health. Having a conscience and the ability to think about moral dilemmas is not a disorder, it is a gift of prophetic insight. Our task includes deconstructing theological ideas that are inadequate and harmful and providing rituals that train new ways of being that affirm relationships and community.
The Revd Dr. Rita Nakashima Brock is Senior Vice President for Moral Injury Recovery Programs at Volunteers of America, a social service non-profit founded in 1896 that provides transitional and affordable housing for veterans, families, and seniors. She was a professor from 1978-1997 and directed the Radcliffe Fellowship Program at Harvard University from 1997-2001. She is author of numerous articles and books including Saving Paradise: Recovering Christianity’s Forgotten Love for This Earth (2012 in UK), and Soul Repair: Recovering from Moral Injury After War (2012).
The Revd Dr. Susan Diamond is lead pastor of Florence Christian Church in Kentucky and former Moderator of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). In 2013, she organized one of the earliest conferences on moral injury focused on churches and universities in Montgomery, Alabama. Through her church and community work, she has trained and facilitated numerous Talking Circles for Soul Repair.