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Environmental ethics in religion
Christians and Environmental Stewardship
Environmental ethics in Christianity
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Christianity, Judaism and Islam are the three fundamental religions of the monotheistic faiths and together consist of 3.3 billion followers worldwide. Modern believers of all three of these religions do interpret and use the creation story in their lives, with all three Abrahamic faiths using them as a guide to there morals and ethical decisions. The three sacred texts that hold the fundamental values of these three religions all consist of a creation story and although different do have similar qualities. How these religions interpret and use this story in modern values is different and unique from each other. This is done through their care for the environment, how they solicitude with each other and lastly how they view equality. The sacred texts involved, all advocate their values on the environment through their modern believers and followers.
The environment is seen as a major issue in today’s society with many looming prospects, such as global warming and pollution. Christianity is the most followed religion in the world and its sacred book is the Bible. The bible’s creation story has been interpreted in modern society to elucidate that we as humans have complete control over the environment. This involves destroying, it, eradicating it and killing off anything that we disobey with. This is interpreted from the New international version Bible (NIV) and clearly states, “Humans were made in Gods image.” From this modern believers interpreted it mean we are here to act like God, we are the God of the Earth and thus can use it however we intend to and not how God intended us to. This can easily be proven by the fact that Pope Francis I stated made an address to modern believers they were doing anything towards the cleaning a...
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...rn believers of Islam do not look after the environment, solicitude for others and are not adherent to equality within the workplace system. These concepts were all bounded by the way they interpreted the creation story within their sacred text, the Quran.
In conclusion, the concept of environmental issues, how they treat one another and there views on equality within different systems, plays a major and fundamental role within the religious life of believers and this was all adapted from the creation story. It can be deduced modern believers of all three of these religions do interpret and use the creation story in their lives, with all three Abrahamic faiths using them as a guide to there morals and ethical decisions. Even though many of the religions have been around for a few thousand years, the morals learnt form the creation stories are still relevant today.
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.
Rubin explain through his journal on how the religion and environmental have impact people around the world. Rubin describe how there are less religion war and human conflict because of the universal religion; people only believe that god is the creator of the universe and created everything on earth. On the other hand, the scientist are not interested in religion at all because they don’t meet the bais of sciences. Science can’t answer some of the question like, who created the world?, and does god existence or not? However, both the environmental and religion have a belief system creation stories and original sin. In religion, there was a beginning when god created the world and made human. The first human were Adam and Eve. However, the scientist think that the human came from the generation of monkey. The scientist do test and comparison to come up with this ideal. They compare the monkey head to a human skeleton and monkey skeleton to support their idea. They are co-exit based on faith because if they were to co-exist on reason there would be a lots of problem. For example the best solution for global warming was to get rid of nuclear
...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.
Both the Theogony and the Creation in Genesis show nature as a blessing for humans but with negative affects, However the myths differ in the ways that the Earth and humans were created and how humans interact with the deities of the creation stories. These differences include how Gods treat humans and why the Gods/God created Earth. These stories are still being passed on in today’s world and are two of the most influential creation stories to have ever been written. The similarities and differences in the creation stories show that different cultures and religions throughout the world really aren’t that far off from each other.
One of the needs for a civilization is to have a structured religion. Due to this there have been countless religions that have formed and also fallen throughout history. When religions are compared similarities can almost always be found, but they also have very drastic differences throughout their beliefs. The Hindu, Christian, and Islam religions all have many things of their beliefs that one can consider a similarity, but the differences overpower the similarities.
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.
Every ancient society and civilization has creation myths that were passed down and keep alive throughout the passing of time by word of mouth. These myths are the world’s oldest stories and are vital to these cultures because they explain their beginnings and give purpose to their existence. By analyzing and interpreting different creation myths it becomes easier to understand different cultures and their connections and relationships with heir beliefs and god(s).
Social responsibility is another area that is highlighted in both Islam and Christianity. Both religions believe that the concept of social responsibility entails that the individual members of society work together to fulfill the general needs of society as well as the individual needs of its members and that they work together to protect society from harm. Both ‘God’ as ‘Allah’ calls us to respect the earth, seek a fairer society, include the forgotten, be makers of peace and build up the common good. Christians as well as Muslims believe that social responsibility helps this to
Every religion has its own goal, and their own path and believe to reach their goals, however there are also many similarities in believes. Although the followers of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam may see things differently, they all fundamentally hold the same values and codes. To Islam, the Prophet Mohammad’s teaching is a complete and final revelation. On the other hand, according to the bible, Christianity believes that Jesus Christ is the true lord and savior will grant you the access to heaven in the afterlife. Judaism is founded by Abraham, and it is the base from which both of the other two religions sprung. Even though the three religions differ in many areas and on many aspects, they also agree on the monotheistic, the belief in ‘One True God.’ Those religions have many similarities and a number of significant differences about God, role of women, prayer, and salvation.
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
The most obvious reason that the environment has moral significance is that damage to it affects humans. Supporters of a completely human-centered ethic claim that we should be concerned for the environment only as far as our actions would have a negative effect on other people. Nature has no intrinsic value; it is not good and desirable apart from its interaction with human beings. Destruction and pollution of the environment cannot be wrong unless it results in harm to other humans. This view has its roots in Western tradition, which declares that “human beings are the only morally important members of this world” (Singer p.268).
Religion has always been a topic of much debate. Between faithful adherents and their spiritual leaders, questions the deal with religious law and the afterlife have always been at the forefront. The three Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) are no exceptions. Although all three religions share a common ancestor, they are not beholden to one singular believe in the matters of religious law and ideas of the afterlife.
Some environmentalists have blamed Christianity for the abuse of the environment. The 1967 article by Lynn White suggests that Christianity’s theology of the domination of creation is based on the premise that God created everything that exists for the humankind’s use and should be exploited for that purpose. By this, White alleged that Christians do not feel the obligation to take care of the nature, because it was created to serve them. While it may not be entirely true, many Christians do not object to this accusation. They realize that either their faith has been minimalist in its approach to environmental involvement, or it has completely disregarded environmental issues as irrelevant to the fundamentals of the faith.
Anthropocentrism is the school of thought that human beings are the single most significant entity in the universe. As a result, the philosophies of those with this belief reflect the prioritization of human objectives over the well-being of one’s environment. However, this is not to say that anthropocentric views neglect to recognize the importance of preserving the Earth. In fact, it is often in the best interests of humans to make concerted efforts towards sustaining the environment. Even from a purely anthropocentric point of view, there are three main reasons why mankind has a moral duty to protect the natural world.
Lewis, Andy. “Environmental Stewardship: A Theological Model for the Environment.” The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commision, August 12, 2005. http://erlc.com/article/environmental-stewardship-a-theological-model-for-the-environment/