‘Earthalujah!’: A Rebel Pastor Preaches for the Planet

The preacher stood wild-eyed before his flock, swaying to a gospel choir. His pompadour stood tall, his voice was thunderous, and his all white suit perfectly matched the heeled white loafers he was wearing on his feet.

Behind them hung a 14-foot high photo of Earth, the very reason this preacher, choir and congregants had gathered in a converted storefront in Manhattan’s East Village one Sunday in July.

This was Earthchxrch, also known as Earth Church, the latest iteration in the ever evolving mash-up of performance art, satire, protest and song from Reverend Billy Talen, a self-anointed preacher and ersatz clergyman, and the Stop Shopping Choir.

“We’re all aware at some level in our bodies that the Earth is off the charts,” Mr. Talen intoned to the 70 or so people there. “We are living inside of the time right now that they have been warning us about.”

Mr. Talen went on to sermonize about things not generally heard from pulpits. About mounting warnings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the scientific body created by the United Nations. About record high temperatures, melting ice sheets and skyrocketing concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. About torrential downpours intensified by heat that seemed less like rain, and more like midair waterfalls.

Outside, New York City was baking. The temperature was 91 degrees Fahrenheit but felt like 106. A block away, down East Third Street, kids were dancing in the spray of an opened fire hydrant. Inside the storefront space, which used to house a bank, a sclerotic air-conditioning system was losing its battle with the heat. The air felt as hot as breath.