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Christians for environmental stewardship
Christians for environmental stewardship
Christians for environmental stewardship
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Religion has become a significant influence over the global phenomenon through ecological changes, Christian/biblical roots, and embrace science. The first main point is ecological changes, or commonly known as climate change. From what I infer, climate change is accepted by most people, but that is the main problem, not everyone accepts that our planet’s climate is changing. Secondly, Christian, or biblical roots, which means religious beliefs affect how individuals treat our plant. Lastly, as humans on our planet most people embrace science, and the field’s contributions. For the past about one-hundred years, religious leaders, such as, St. Francis of Assisi and Pope Benedict XVI, incorporated science and religion together to break the cycle of ecological changes.
Pope John Paul II served as pope from 1978-2005, and his first Encyclical, “The Redeemer of Man,” as Pope Francis states, “In his
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One primary evidence of how religion plays a role over the issue of environmental sustainability is Association of Benedictine Colleges & Universities refers to The Ten Hallmarks of Benedictine Education, which lists ten standards, or hallmarks that Benedictine Educations wants their students to succeed. One hallmark in particular is stewardship, or one having fully responsibility to use God’s creations in modification. What I mean by using God’s creations in a moderate way without under usage, or more common, overusing, and polluting the planet. This source states, “St. Benedict exhorts his followers to regard all the tools and goods of the monastery as the sacred vessels of the altar” (RB 31.10). St. Benedict urges as to become aware in the larger scale to become good stewards of the planet in order to recognize how much how our natural resources we use. Similar to St. Benedict, the Pope refers how climate change impacts humans and species. One statement he states in verse forty-four
The majority of this piece is dedicated to the author stating his opinion in regards to civilization expanding beyond its sustainable limits. The author makes it clear that he believes that humans have failed the natural environment and are in the process of eliminating all traces of wilderness from the planet. Nash points out facts that strengthen his argument, and quotes famous theologians on their similar views on environmental issues and policies. The combination of these facts and quotes validates the author’s opinion.
In the journal of Environmentalism as Religion, Paul H. Rubin discuss about how environmental is similar to religion. Rubin want everyone to know that the environment and religion are somehow similar in a way, which they both have belief system, creation stories and original sin.
... lot easier by the flexibility of New Age Religions, with people adopting only what suited them, and being able to practice their faith anywhere. Ethical concerns for the environment are also key foundations to some New Age religions, for example ‘The Green movement’ ‘believe in Gaia — an “Earth spirit,”’ and one of their religious focuses is on the care and treatment of the earth.
...that they believe is just and being ethical when concerning the environment, adherents will be rewarded by God. Humanity also benefits as, environmental ethics provided by the Christian teaching and beliefs allows communities to come together and discuss issues concerning the environment whilst being guided by their faith.
An environmentalist is a person worships the environment and cares for nature more than people. Christians and others share the common perception that environmental ethics exist for how human beings should relate to the land, the free market perceptive and the environmental perceptive. Humans share a relationship with all creations of the earth. But as humans, they find themselves as having a role in the created order which is they have a closer relationship with the creator who has charged them with acting responsible within his creation. Even allowing a common complaint of environmental activists is that Stewardship means that the earth was made exclusively because of human beings - that having dominion upper nature is the same as having the power and directly of domination. Christians consequently share a close relationship by means of the whole of aspects of creation, since in relation to the environment, its unbroken humanity, not unbroken nature, that's seen to be the problem. Stewardship in simple terms means to manage someone else’s property. Christians proclaims that everything belong to God, so as Christians, we need to have the attitude that our belongings are his belongings. As stewards, we have the responsibility of being in charge of the earth. We have been placed in charge and are responsible for whatever happens to it, even though it does not belong to us, as we all know it belong to God. In Genesis 2:15, God took man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to work and take care of it.
Sorrell, Roger D. Saint Francis of Assisi and Nature: Tradition and Innovation in Western Christian Attitudes toward the Environment. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.
And Mr. Crichton theorizes that there are two reasons why we need to go back to environmental science, and leave the religion aspect behind us. First, we need to stick with the cold hard facts of science and we can’t rely on one government political party to solve all of our problems for us, this is an all-for-one type of deal, with no connotations involved. Our second reason he explains is that religions think that they have the answers to everything. But when it comes to environmentalism, we are dealing with discoveries that are still being found to this day, we need to evolve and mesh ourselves in order to accept new ideas and proceed with how to live our lives
I strongly agree with Pope Francis that if we teach younger generations not to be wasteful and show them how to be resourceful, then it won’t be such a struggle in the future. "Education in environmental responsibility can encourage ways of acting which directly and significantly affect the world around us, such as avoiding the use of plastic and paper, reducing water consumption, separating refuse, cooking only what can reasonably be consumed, showing care for other living beings, using public transport or car-pooling, planting trees, turning off unnecessary lights, or any number of other practices.” (211). There are so many new ways to help reduce our use of natural resources that if from a young age we are taught these methods then we could help save our planet. “All of these reflect a generous and worthy creativity which brings out the best in human beings. Reusing something instead of immediately discarding it, when done for the right reasons, can be an act of love which expresses our own dignity.” (211). Again, I agree with the Pope that recycling and reusing makes you feel good because you are making an active contribution to reduce climate
Pope Francis calls in Laudato Si for a “social ecology” that recognizes that the “health of a society’s institutions has consequences for the environment and the quality of human life” (Laudato Si, 142). Social ecology is “necessarily institutional, and
Social stability is the capstone of a fully-functioning society. Social stability is about the condition of freedom from social disorder that is commonly manifested in the custom of inter-group conflict and violence (Sengupta, p. 5103, 2004). It is the condition of sustainable development, and welfare, whereas, society would be free of poverty, hunger, corruption, exploitation and inequality (Sengupta, p. 5103, 2004). It is premised on social development, freedom, and harmony (Sengupta, p. 5103, 2004). There are many components which assist in the achievement of social stability; one being social justice through religion. The purpose of this paper is to examine social justice advocated through religion in an effort to attain social stability.
Christian theology states that God created the earth and gave it as a gift to humans to be shared with all other living creatures. This belief is known as the “Creation-centered approach to the natural environment” (Massaro, p.163). This approach emphasizes the value of nature by recognizing humans as being an equal part of God’s creation under which all “species deserve protection” (Massaro, p.163). With such publicly known cases of pollution like the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico or Bethlehem Steel’s pollution of Lake Erie decades ago, it is evident that humans have been using the environment in accordance with the Stewardship or even the Dominion model, both of which place humans above all other creations. According to Massaro, Christian theology also explains that showing “disregard for the air that others breathe and the quality of the water they drink is to sin against God” (Massaro, p.162). This type of disregard destroys humankind’s relationship with all other living organisms.
In support, Tsunetsugu Muraoka explains that ‘Aside from Kami that were identified with concrete objects, there were cases of a deification of the power that resided in nature’ (55). This proves that Shinto has always historically been an environmentalist religious as one of the key elements of the religion -kami- is intrinsically connected to nature. Therefore, the spiritual aspect of Shinto cannot be contextualised or understood under any other framework that ignores the impact of nature on the faith. In addition, Boyd and Williams claim that Shinto is environmentalist due to the Shinto worldview being something that ‘focuses on the generative, connecting force (musabi) inherent to the natural world’ (36). This means that Shinto is environmentalist as it emphasises both spiritually and philosophically nature into every element of the religion, and nature cannot be separated from the religion otherwise it cannot be considered
God has not abandoned the world. It is His will that His design and our hope for it will be realized through our co-operation in restoring its original harmony. In our own time we are witnessing a growth of an ecological awareness which needs to be encouraged, so that it will lead to practical programs and initiatives. An awareness of the relationship between God and humankind brings a fuller sense of the importance of the relationship between human beings and the natural environment, which is God's creation and which God entrusted to us to guard with wisdom and love (cf.
In the modern era, climate change is a variation of weather over a long period of time, and it is the most important and controversial global issue. It is arguable in different positions, especially on science, culture, and politics. These three fields all cause a lot of latent concerns. The science of climate change brings out several harmful phenomenon, such as global warming. With respect to the climate change, the culture of humanity may be changed because the changing climate is the most important key factor of forming today’s human societies. Instead, climate change is now a political issue, which will affect the public attitudes directly. In other words, it means the government tends to review and provide latest information in order to adapt and retard the climate change. Over a long period of time, climate change has been taking place because of human activities that affect the scientific, cultural, and political sides.
According to Chernus religion is a group activity and is, “...the constant foundation of everyday life” (Chernus 2015:1 ). This dictates the role of different people and how the society maintains the norm. Therefore social control is maintained through the use of symbols, ritual, rules, and sanction. Religion consists of symbols, rituals, rules, and sanctions. Environmentalism has recognizable symbols: blue recycling bins, the triple flow arrows, and stainless steel and biodegradable cups.