Green Christianity
Green Christianity; a sustainable future through faith
Environmentalism is an advocacy toward protecting the natural environment from destruction or pollution. This is certainly not a static movement. Instead, it is constantly evolving in response to new scientific discoveries, leading to conscious awareness of an earth in danger. In the 1970s and 80s, environmentalism aimed at a candid approach by simply trying to preserve certain resources and nature reserves. Today, forward-looking environmentalists are taking more action by developing a sustainable and renewable future. They address environmental issues within many contexts, including economic, social, cultural, and religion. Each context contributes in its own way. Specifically, I am interested in the religious role in preserving the environment. Religious environmentalism is based on the concept that the current environmental crisis is, at its core, a crisis of values. The idea has been around for centuries but may have gone unnoticed. Ecological crises including invasions, wars, droughts, famines, floods, and hurricanes have impacted environments all over the world. Naturally, faith has been used as a mechanism to adapt to ecological crises by using faith and hope as rebuilding mechanisms. As a result, many deeply religious individuals, from all across the globe, are coming to the realization that a deeper understanding of environmentalism can provide a refreshing relationship with the earth that falls in line with their beliefs. Moreover, religious environmentalism has been hailed as a “diverse, vibrant, global, movement of ideas and activism that roots the general environmental message in spiritual framework” (Gottlieb 231). Both religion and ecology complement each other, while “ecology” stands for environmentalism and “religion” is the force that can inspire and mobilize it. A religious group that is increasingly adapting religious environmentalism is Christianity.
Biblically understood, “the
Environmentalism is an advocacy toward protecting the natural environment from destruction or pollution. This is certainly not a static movement. Instead, it is constantly evolving in response to new scientific discoveries, leading to conscious awareness of an earth in danger. In the 1970s and 80s, environmentalism aimed at a candid approach by simply trying to preserve certain resources and nature reserves. Today, forward-looking environmentalists are taking more action by developing a sustainable and renewable future. They address environmental issues within many contexts, including economic, social, cultural, and religion. Each context contributes in its own way. Specifically, I am interested in the religious role in preserving the environment. Religious environmentalism is based on the concept that the current environmental crisis is, at its core, a crisis of values. The idea has been around for centuries but may have gone unnoticed. Ecological crises including invasions, wars, droughts, famines, floods, and hurricanes have impacted environments all over the world. Naturally, faith has been used as a mechanism to adapt to ecological crises by using faith and hope as rebuilding mechanisms. As a result, many deeply religious individuals, from all across the globe, are coming to the realization that a deeper understanding of environmentalism can provide a refreshing relationship with the earth that falls in line with their beliefs. Moreover, religious environmentalism has been hailed as a “diverse, vibrant, global, movement of ideas and activism that roots the general environmental message in spiritual framework” (Gottlieb 231). Both religion and ecology complement each other, while “ecology” stands for environmentalism and “religion” is the force that can inspire and mobilize it. A religious group that is increasingly adapting religious environmentalism is Christianity.
Biblically understood, “the
References: Bouma-Prediger, S. (2006). "Hoping to establish common ground for saving biodiversity.". Science, 314(1), 1392. Butkus, R. A. (2002). The stewardship of creation. The Center for Christian Ethics at Baylor University, , 17-23. Seifert, J. M., & Shaw, B. R. (2013). Tending our patch of creation: Engaging christians in environmental stewardship through sense of place. Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature & Culture, 7(3), 265-288. Simmons, J. A. (2009). Evangelical environmentalism: Oxymoron or opportunity? Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture & Ecology, 13(1), 40-71. Smith, A. M., & Pulver, S. (2009). Ethics-based environmentalism in practice: Religious-environmental organizations in the united states. Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture & Ecology,13(2), 145-179. Zaleha, B. D. (2013). 'Our only heaven ': Nature veneration, quest religion, and pro-environment behavior. Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature & Culture, 7(2),