London, Dec 26 : The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has held mankind’s greed responsible for endangering the environment.

"When we threaten the balance of things, we don’t just put our material survival at risk. More profoundly, we put our spiritual sensitivity at risk, the possibility of being opened up to the endless wonder by the world around us," Williams said in his Christmas Day sermon at Canterbury Cathedral.

Urging people to treat each other and nature with "reverence", the Archbishop said that the planet was not a "warehouse of resources to serve humanity’s selfishness."

William described the atheist Richard Dawkins, the Oxford University Professor recently outed as a carol singer, as being in touch with the "amazement and awe" of the God’s creation.

He also drew a parallel between Dawkins’ understanding of the beauty of the world around us with that of St John of the Cross, the 16th-century mystic.

Williams went on to say that the whole point of creation was that there should be people "capable of intimacy with God – not so that God can gain something, but so that these created beings may live in joy," a report in the Times Online said.

Echoing the views of William, Anglican Bishop of Shrewsbury Dr Alan Smith said, " If the warnings from the recent Bali conference on climate change come true, we may not have many more white Christmases."

"There is a growing consensus that the human race is damaging the world’s ecosystems at an alarming rate and that urgent action is needed," said Smith, adding, "One of the difficulties is that we all want everyone else to change their lifestyles, so that we can continue with ours. We need to pray for a consensus to emerge at global and national levels that we all need to live differently." (ANI)