On Sunday morning, as the world was coming to terms with the terrorist attacks in Paris, a group of Christians were embarking on a pilgrimage to the French capital.
At first, I assumed they were going to offer assistance to the people caught up in the atrocities that left scores of people dead and many injured.
However, the pilgrims, who had organised their trip months ago, had a separate agenda.
They were hoping to raise awareness of environmental issues ahead of the UN climate change conference due to start in Paris at the end of November.
There is an argument, a very good one, that violent Islamic terrorism should not be allowed to disrupt democratic freedoms and for that reason, the Paris conference should not be cancelled in the wake of the carnage in the city. It has been long in the planning and leaders from around the world are due to attend.
For the same reason, football matches in Paris should go ahead, Disneyland Paris should stay open and Parisian shops and restaurants must not be cowed in the run-up to Christmas.
As David Cameron said: “We must carry on with the way of life that we love and that we know.”
Christian marchers
Some of the Christian marchers interviewed by the BBC on Sunday talked about climate change as the biggest threat to humanity.
The Bishop of Salisbury, Nick Holtam, said care of the Earth is “one of the key things about being a Christian today”.
In an ordinary week, the pilgrims could be passed off as the usual escapees from reality, evangelists spreading their climate change creed as zealously as their forebears once preached goodwill to all mankind.
However, in this of all weeks their cause and their commitment to it struck a discordant note.
In the circumstances, would it not have been more Christian to abandon their eco-trip and to make their mission to Paris a purely humanitarian one, involving donating blood or helping the city minister to its victims?
Also en route to the climate change summit are green activists from around the UK, Scotland included.
While some Greens will content themselves by joining a campaign against climate change (can you campaign against the weather?) in London on the eve of the summit, others are determined to cross the Channel for the big event.
The French would no doubt want to encourage tourists and they must hope the empty Eurostar trains leaving St Pancras over the weekend are a temporary crisis of confidence among British Francophiles.
However, with the security services stretched to capacity as Paris puts itself back together again, surely the last thing the gendarmes and the military need is a totally unnecessary invasion of environmentalists to add to their worries.
Friends of the Earth Scotland was still saying on its website early this week that “tens of thousands of people are travelling to Paris for a weekend of amazing actions. Will you join us?”
The dates in question will come just weeks after the slayings in the city’s centre, when the security operation will already have its hands full trying to keep global leaders in town for the occasion safe, not to mention Prince Charles, the eco-warrior in chief, who is addressing delegates.
“Bring lights, banners, flags, whistles, bells and your messages in light,” says Friends of the Earth Scotland.
“Together we will tear down the dirty energy system. We will challenge corporate power. We will light the way with people-powered solutions. We will call for justice for people affected by climate change and for a community-owned sustainable energy system.”
Irrelevant
Have the “stop the world we want to get off” brigade ever sounded more irrelevant?
As the West grapples with the gravest challenge to all it holds dear since the rise of fascism, this lot preoccupy themselves with solidarity over fossil fuels.
Green movements tend to thrive in areas of plenty with large middle classes in Germany, for example and Brighton and Scotland, where people are comfortable and have the leisure to contemplate long-term hypotheticals.
They add to the gaiety of political debate and sometimes even have a point. However, they are hardly the defenders of truth and liberty and when a country is in crisis, they would do everyone a favour if they retreated tactfully into the background.
Such a country right now is France. Hopefully, as the calamity that has just unfolded on the continent sinks in, Friends of the Earth Scotland (and others like it) will abandon plans for a “historic day of mobilisation with mass actions and demonstrations in the streets of central Paris”.
When the world is completely safe from murderous extremists gunning down youngsters at pop concerts, the Greens can perhaps resume their fun-packed outings for climate justice. Sadly, that day looks somewhat distant.