Re: [greenyes] Evangelical Concern with Environment

[David Biddle <Dbiddle@no.address>]

Title: Re: [greenyes] Evangelical Concern with Environment

Yeah. I don’t think any of this argument should be directed at evangelicals or religion per se. The religious community runs the gamut in its view of environmental policy. An excellent volume of Daedulus came out in Fall of 2001 (titled “Religion and Ecology: Can the Climate Change?”) with articles by representatives of all the major religions in the world. Sally McFugue wrote the piece on Christianity’s role. She is a theologian from, I believe, Vanderbilt. Her argument is highly critical of the general Christian world view of the relationship between environment and economy (“the neoclassical interpretation” of the world). She calls for a more “worldly Christianity.”

An interesting exercise is to Google “Evangelical environmentalists” and “Christian environmentalists”  You’ll find arguments for and against. 

One thing is apparent to me reading all this stuff, and that is that there is seriously muddled thinking going on here. And it’s not just on environmental issues either. Our value system as a whole is out of kilter...there doesn’t seem to be a lot of wisdom getting through all the social filters that govern public discourse.

Not sure what the answer is...

DB


on 2/8/05 1:46 PM, lkingeco2@no.address at lkingeco2@no.address wrote:

> While The Washington Post chose to highlight evangelical concern with environment, it is worth noting that this trend goes back more than a decade and that it is part of a broader inter-faith movement in the United States and worldwide.  Evangelicals played an important role in preserving the Endangered Species Act in the early 1990's. 
>
> More recently, in the last Congress (2003-2004), leaders in faith communities worked effectively to oppose oil drilling in ANWR. Many faith leaders brought attention to gas-guzzling vechicles, like SUV's, in a highly visible media campaign targeting automakers in Detroit, and advocate for renewable energy. 
>
> Old line environmental groups, such as the Sierra Club, have come to recognize that that the religious community plays a vital role in shaping public policy.  World Watch Institute has published on this subject for anyone who may be interested. 
>
> Lance King 
> Community Solutions

 David Biddle, Executive Director


         P.O. Box 4037
    Philadelphia, PA 19118
          215-247-3090
          215-432-8225 (mobile)
       Dbiddle@no.address

     <WWW.GPCRC.COM>

Read In Business magazine to learn about sustainable 
businesses in communities across North America! 
Go to: <http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jgpress/>