Monday, February 18, 2008 at 12:12am
Ecospirituality
Column: Interesting Times
Spring can be seen through the snow outside my kitchen window. The birds gather in droves around the feeders, and I watch them fly, flap and crack seeds as I do the dishes, rather pleased with my efforts to keep the feeders full.
Over 50 years ago, Aldo Leopold, the prophet of Sand County, Wis., said that it was the Abrahamic concept of land ownership that was responsible for the lack of care of the natural world. Abraham, the father of the Jews, Christians and Muslims, and his descendants, in Leopold's view, were responsible for man's degradation of the earth in believing God's continued reminders that the land would belong to his "seed forever."? In the years since then, recognizing the terrible neglect and appropriation of earth's natural resources, the Roman Catholic Pope John Paul II and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of the Greek Orthodox Church in 2002 signed a declaration stating that protecting the environment is a "moral and spiritual" duty. Believers have a specific role to play in "proclaiming moral values and in educating people in ecological awareness, which is none other than responsibility toward self, toward others, toward creation."
While a collective sigh of relief at the pronouncement may have been heard in all corners of the earth, the Holy Father and the Ecumenical Patriarch (known in many circles as "the green pope") joined with religious groups from all faiths who have been actively working to bring the cries of the earth for wholeness to congregations around the world since the 1972 Stockholm Conference.
Founded in 1981, the Meteorology and Environmental Protection Administration was created as the central organization for all environmental protection and management activities in that most Islamic nation — Saudi Arabia. Its responsibilities are to create and carry out programs to conserve, improve and protect natural resources and the environment, as well as to control air, water and land pollution within the Islamic traditions. MEPA's functions are to conduct environmental surveys, recommend regulations and other measures, assess levels of environmental pollution, stay abreast of regional and international developments in environmental protection, and establish standards and specifications.
If Leopold was correct that it was monotheism that was responsible for environmental crimes and offenses, then his jeremiads have been heard by millions of believers in the three Abrahamic faiths and, too, by all who struggle for spirituality.
Part of the success of religious organizations in changing general congregational thinking about man's role in the overall environment is the judicious use of language. "The Earth is our Mother" is still not a widely popular notion in the Abrahamic faiths, but religions are always changing. Slavery was once considered to have the stamp of biblical approval. Women were not heard in churches and children were beaten with rods. These old ideas still hold sway in some quarters of the earth but are fast crumbling. So, too, any lingering notion that somehow, in some mysterious way Divinity would clean up the mess made by man's abuse of all other life forms on earth. That old theology, that the earth is independent of us and that we have "dominion" over it, has nearly faded and has been replaced by a greater devotion, on the part of faith groups, to Creation as God's whole purpose and concern for us all. The Bible has not changed since the time of Moses and Paul, but interpretation of the text has. Louis Agassiz, the 19th century naturalist and author, said: "Every great scientific truth goes through three stages. First, people say it conflicts with the Bible. Next, they say it has been discovered before. Lastly, they say they have always believed it." There is evidence we may be emerging into the third stage.
While some leaders who espouse faith may not have joined the growing chorus of religious voices singing the new/old song "The Earth is the Lord's and the Fullness Thereof," the "whole creation groans in expectation."
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Lynne Bundesen is the author of five books on religion and was adjunct professor at the Boston Theological Institute under a Templeton Science and Religion Grant. She is currently the spiritual expert for the physical and spiritual health website of Dr. Andrew Weil. Her book "The Feminine Spirit: Recapturing the Heart of Scripture" was just published. Her email address is {email lynnebundesen@hotmail.com}lynnebundesen@hotmail.com{/email}. © Copyright 2008 by Lynne Bundesen.
Over 50 years ago, Aldo Leopold, the prophet of Sand County, Wis., said that it was the Abrahamic concept of land ownership that was responsible for the lack of care of the natural world. Abraham, the father of the Jews, Christians and Muslims, and his descendants, in Leopold's view, were responsible for man's degradation of the earth in believing God's continued reminders that the land would belong to his "seed forever."? In the years since then, recognizing the terrible neglect and appropriation of earth's natural resources, the Roman Catholic Pope John Paul II and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of the Greek Orthodox Church in 2002 signed a declaration stating that protecting the environment is a "moral and spiritual" duty. Believers have a specific role to play in "proclaiming moral values and in educating people in ecological awareness, which is none other than responsibility toward self, toward others, toward creation."
While a collective sigh of relief at the pronouncement may have been heard in all corners of the earth, the Holy Father and the Ecumenical Patriarch (known in many circles as "the green pope") joined with religious groups from all faiths who have been actively working to bring the cries of the earth for wholeness to congregations around the world since the 1972 Stockholm Conference.
Founded in 1981, the Meteorology and Environmental Protection Administration was created as the central organization for all environmental protection and management activities in that most Islamic nation — Saudi Arabia. Its responsibilities are to create and carry out programs to conserve, improve and protect natural resources and the environment, as well as to control air, water and land pollution within the Islamic traditions. MEPA's functions are to conduct environmental surveys, recommend regulations and other measures, assess levels of environmental pollution, stay abreast of regional and international developments in environmental protection, and establish standards and specifications.
If Leopold was correct that it was monotheism that was responsible for environmental crimes and offenses, then his jeremiads have been heard by millions of believers in the three Abrahamic faiths and, too, by all who struggle for spirituality.
Part of the success of religious organizations in changing general congregational thinking about man's role in the overall environment is the judicious use of language. "The Earth is our Mother" is still not a widely popular notion in the Abrahamic faiths, but religions are always changing. Slavery was once considered to have the stamp of biblical approval. Women were not heard in churches and children were beaten with rods. These old ideas still hold sway in some quarters of the earth but are fast crumbling. So, too, any lingering notion that somehow, in some mysterious way Divinity would clean up the mess made by man's abuse of all other life forms on earth. That old theology, that the earth is independent of us and that we have "dominion" over it, has nearly faded and has been replaced by a greater devotion, on the part of faith groups, to Creation as God's whole purpose and concern for us all. The Bible has not changed since the time of Moses and Paul, but interpretation of the text has. Louis Agassiz, the 19th century naturalist and author, said: "Every great scientific truth goes through three stages. First, people say it conflicts with the Bible. Next, they say it has been discovered before. Lastly, they say they have always believed it." There is evidence we may be emerging into the third stage.
While some leaders who espouse faith may not have joined the growing chorus of religious voices singing the new/old song "The Earth is the Lord's and the Fullness Thereof," the "whole creation groans in expectation."
— — —
Lynne Bundesen is the author of five books on religion and was adjunct professor at the Boston Theological Institute under a Templeton Science and Religion Grant. She is currently the spiritual expert for the physical and spiritual health website of Dr. Andrew Weil. Her book "The Feminine Spirit: Recapturing the Heart of Scripture" was just published. Her email address is {email lynnebundesen@hotmail.com}lynnebundesen@hotmail.com{/email}. © Copyright 2008 by Lynne Bundesen.