Earth Day is the 22nd, but its celebration moves
into weekends. I noticed a number of churches doing Earth Day events in its
time frame. Earth day festivals frame the weekends around it.
My primary environmental concern remains pollution. Most of
the miners could not play with their children due to “black lung.” When I was
growing up in Western Pennsylvania , we had
“sulfur creeks’ running red. Lake Erie was
considered dead. I didn’t know of the book, but I was aware that Silent spring
knew that we were killing birds. The great symbolic moment for me was the Cuyahoga River
in Cleveland
catching fire.
Tim, a resident genius in one of our Bible studies, notes
that ecology has become a secular religion for some. Personally, I have little
patience for trying to recreate ancient rituals for Mother Nature and the flow
of the seasons. On the other hand, if this movement has raised the issue of
creation to the forefront of concerns, then Christian churches owe them a debt
of gratitude. If they have moved us to see the creation as sacred, then they
have altered the calculus we use to determine what we should or should not do
with environmental impact.
My religious orientation gives a particular set of concerns
to environmental issues. First and foremost, Christians speak of Creation. The
National Council of Churches asks if we have become “un-Creators” by placing
the Earth in jeopardy.
Second, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew calls pollution
a sin as a crime against the natural world. God labored and labors long and
well to help sustain this world. To use that religious language allows us to
engage in ethical discussion in ways not usually available to us.
Perhaps the primary virtue of the Council of Churches
statement on the environment is humility. I would extend their point. We need
humility in discussing the environment. The right would do well to stop acting
as if they understand science better than scientists. The left would do well to
stop its preening as if it grasps the science only because scientists agree
with their concerns about the environment. As limited beings, do we have the capacity,
let alone the wisdom, to think that we can control the complexity of ecology
and climate?
My own Reformed tradition has long advocated frugality and simplicity
of life. It is the opposite of prodigal waste of resources. My mother was a
Depression era person. From it, she drew a fundamental rule in our household:
don’t waste.
Many people look toward dominion in Genesis as a command of
power over, but it seems to have more of a shepherding, taking care of, being
responsible for creation. To subdue the
earth is a tougher one, as it does have the sense of power over. The Bible is
not romantic about nature: it is not all about pretty sunsets. It sees nature
as a powerful force that does get out of balance, and it does threaten human
life. Nature too is imagined to be transformed at some point. At the same time,
it sees us as part of the natural order. Again in Genesis it cannot be an
accident that Adam’s name is a play on adamah, soil, to get at our connection
with nature.
The preamble to the Constitution speaks of ourselves and our
posterity. The conservation movement has long sought to protect nature as a
legacy for those who follow us. We do not live for ourselves; we do not live
for the present moment alone. We seek to provide a legacy. What more vital
legacy can we offer than a safer, more secure natural world? What way could we
better respect the work of the Creator than by being caretakers of this
precious planet?
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