In recent weeks, climate activists have organized numerous protests throughout European cities to draw attention to their cause. Although based in different countries, the groups are affiliated with one another and have coordinated similar demonstrations. In the UK, protestors dumped soup on Van Gogh’s Sunflowers; at the Louvre, cake was smeared on the Mona Lisa; in The Hague, an attack was also made on Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring. In Potsdam, Germany, the activists threw mashed potatoes on Monet’s Haystack painting. In addition to the artwork, the Natural History Museum in Berlin saw an attack on a dinosaur skeleton. Many environmentalists do not agree with the attacks as the artwork does not increase or promote the climate crisis. Museums across Europe are currently increasing security and putting measures in place to protect the art and prevent further demonstrations.
The climate activists have most recently been accused of causing a traffic jam in Berlin that resulted in a cyclist being declared brain dead. Protestors blockaded a road, which prohibited emergency services from reaching the scene of the cyclist’s accident in time to offer valuable assistance. Two of the activists have been charged with a criminal offense due to obstructing emergency services. This tragic accident has turned more members of the public against the actions of environmental protestors.
Germany is in desperate need of Christians who are as bold and assertive in their message as the climate activists are in theirs. While it is a very diverse nation due to the rapid influx of immigrants beginning in 1989, some Germans resent the presence of so many foreigners and harbor bitterness toward immigrants. This bitterness and occasional violence directed towards immigrants are more pronounced in the eastern part of the country. Of the nearly 84 million people in Germany, 2% claim to be evangelical Christians. This nation has a rich and colorful culture, as well as a dark and troubled recent past, and is in need of missionaries and church planters to take the Gospel to the millions unreached.
