From Awe to Action — Religions and Environmental Awareness

Contemporary means of collaboration, communication, and technical advancements are rapidly changing the ways in which faith communities respond to the pressing issues around them, including the challenges associated with climate change and weather-related catastrophes. Religious organizations, such as the the World Council of Churches and Lutheran World Relief (LWR), and some faith leaders including the recently elected Pope Francis, have lifted sustainable development as one of their signature items. Although approaching the natural world through a non-secular lens is not new, many faith-based organizations are looking for innovative ways to address contemporary issues.

Climate change is one of the issues where many faith leaders feel that natural sciences have clear implications for religious belief and practice. For instance, LWR’s agenda includes fair-trade partnerships, promotion of sustainable agriculture, environmental disaster education, and climate-related disaster risk reduction programs. It may be that the capacity of religions to unite action with reflection and everyday concerns with lasting communal rituals comes as the most potent and powerful way for the religious communities to enrich the environmental discussions of today.

Ancient Traditions, Today’s Leaders

The challenges and opportunities associated with modern technology have introduced new questions to people of diverse faith traditions. Yet, importantly, questions of sustainability and environmental awareness are not contemporary additions to the ancient religions of the world. In fact, the sacred scriptures of Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and many other global religions offer lessons on the delicate balance between human culture and nature. Though the spiritual interpretations of the material reality vary from one religious tradition to another, all religions have something to say about the dynamic and vulnerable relationship between humans and nature. For instance, the Genesis account of God’s rest after six days of active creation has often been read in the Jewish exegesis as a delicate scriptural effort to highlight the balance between action and contemplation, molding reality and enjoying its gifts, bringing about change and accepting that, at times, a step back or a mindful pause, like the Sabbath, is the best way to bring creative activity to fruition.

Many a religious leader and a spiritual writer have looked back to their traditions in order to contribute to the contemporary ecological dialogue. Pope Francis’s Inaugural Mass included a call to responsible economic growth and stewardship of the Earth. The Dalai Lama has offered several addresses on a Buddhist perspective to conservation, focusing in particular on the interconnectedness of the humans and nature. Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, the head of more than 300 million Orthodox Christians, has earned the nickname of the “Green Patriarch” for his decades-long commitment to eco-theology.

Ecologically-minded spiritual leaders have enjoyed a particular authority not available to their secular counterparts – they have the power to spur their audience to action using the ancient ideas of sin and repentance. This is just what Patriarch Bartholomew did in his strongly worded September 2012 encyclical when he stated that we are called to “repentance for our sinfulness in destroying the world.” Some of the patriarch’s spiritual arsenal is drawn from traditional short sermons, prayers, and religious literature. But he also is a leader who, though steeped in tradition, continues to maintain an active inter-disciplinary dialogue with modern environmental sciences.

Religious Responses to Global Warming – Challenges and Practical Solutions

From the point of view of contemporary religious responses related to global change, the United States is a Western nation in a class of its own. A driver of technological innovation and sciences, the U.S. is also a country in which faith communities have a considerable impact on public opinion and practices, including issues related to the environment.

The Pew Research Center’s 2008 study of North American religious groups’ views on global warming specifically showed that white evangelical Protestants were skeptical of global warming: only one in three believed that evidence that Earth is warming is due to human activity. When compared to the current American average of about 54 percent who believe that the climate change is due to human activity, as reported in The Climate Change in the American Mind Series of 2012, the number is notably low.

Still, the natural catastrophes of past decade also brought environmental questions to the attention of the evangelical faith communities. The Evangelical Climate Initiative (ECL), which was first introduced in 2005, has today been signed by more than 300 senior faith leaders. The ECL Statement acknowledges: “The consequences of climate change will be significant, and will hit the poor the hardest.” The document goes beyond raising awareness of environmental issues – it calls for immediate action and suggests some practical solutions to pollution, including cap and trade programs for carbon emission reduction. The actual congregational or national impact of the Evangelical Climate Initiative is yet to be determined. It appears, in fact, that the economic downturn and fears that conservation efforts will cost jobs – voiced by such conservative evangelical religious organizations as The Cornwall Alliance – has had a particularly damaging impact on budding evangelical environmental initiatives.

The practical impact of faith-based environmental statements can be difficult to estimate in part because the churches do not have defined political roles. Perhaps one measurable way to evaluate the scope of environmental commitment is the practices associated with facilities and energy use. Some faith communities, among them several mainline Protestant churches and Jewish synagogues, have undergone extensive energy audits, transferred to thermal or solar power, or committed to energy-efficient weatherization of their buildings. Some of these efforts have been done in consultation with GreenFaith, an interfaith partnership for conservation, which offers certification programs for ecologically ambitious congregations. These major infrastructural energy conservation efforts or transitions to alternative forms of energy are beyond the financial means of many faith communities, but others have worked to create partnerships to introduce hands-on reforms around recycling, organic foods, and gardening.

For instance, Baltimore Food and Faith, an initiative of John Hopkins University’s Center for a Livable Future, offers a Good Food Toolkit to congregations to promote sustainable eating practices. Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon has created an extensive program of environmental ministries that include committees on Earth concerns, global warming, food, and congregational greening. Hazon, a Jewish network for sustainable living, promotes environmental awareness through education, transformative outdoor experiences, and building of leadership capacity.

Focus on the Developing Countries and the Poor

Another area in which the strengths of religious communities may be put to a particularly effective use could be in coping with the dramatic impact of climate change on the world’s poor, documented in the research of World Health Organization (2009) and many other agencies. For decades, faith-based organizations have partnered with the Red Cross and other secular relief agencies at sites struck by natural catastrophes. Today the World Council of Churches, which represents 349 Christian churches from more than 110 countries, LWR, and many religious humanitarian agencies advocates for environmental practices that protect vulnerable population groups in developing countries.

From the point of view of environmental awareness it may be argued, however, that the anthropocentric view may continue to perpetuate a religious divide between humans and nature. For instance, the fact that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has archived its environmental online documents under the category “Human Life and Dignity” implies that the complex questions of biodiversity and climate are primarily introduced from the angle of human experience. While the climate-related suffering of the vulnerable population groups is certainly an important cause to focus on, the churches also have significant powers in igniting compassion toward all of God’s creations.

Are Religious Environmental Efforts Effective?

What then might be the most authentic or effective role for faith communities in current efforts to raise awareness of climate change and the need for conservation? Is it found in the ancient wisdom of religions or in embracing the language of science and evolution? The answer may be a mix of the two.

Lucas Johnston, the author of “Religion and Sustainability: Social Movements and the Politics of Environment (Equinox Press 2012),” commented on this question in an e-mail: “Many organizations are using traditional themes to encourage environmental advocacy. They attempt to draw on the ancient wisdom of world religions to promote positive environmental change.”

One such organization is The Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC), a secular nonprofit which partners with governments and non-governmental agencies such as the World Wildlife Foundation and the World Bank. Lucas Johnston observed that religious leaders and organizations often tap into the most ancient language of creation accounts to visualize the spiritual call to environmental stewardship. Though a scientific worldview is widely accepted among many religious communities, including most mainline Protestant churches, it is rare that the language of evolution finds its way to the ecological statements of faith leaders.

Michael Dowd, a self-styled evolutionary evangelist and the author of “Thank God for Evolution (2007),” is one of the exceptions. He mixes Christian narratives and scientific perspectives to inspire a sense of awe about the Earth and the cosmos. Some scientists have explored spiritual themes derived from viewing humanity as part of nature, as seen the collection of articles edited by Stephen Kellert and Timothy Farnham, “The Good in Nature and Humanity: Connecting Science, Religion, and Spirituality with the Natural World (2002).”

Johnston’s professorship in religion and environmental studies at Wake Forest University, and his editorial engagement with the Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture, come as examples of academic interest in the questions of religions and sustainability. The American Academy of Religion has a sustainability committee. Yet, Johnston feels that the environmental awareness among the practitioners of various faiths and scholars of religion has not effectively translated into widespread actions. Says Johnston: “Statements by religious groups are important, and they have, and continue to spur individual and local-level action. But we’ve yet to see religious groups really modeling environmental best practices on a large scale.”

Rites of Continuity

Religious groups are not alone in their struggle to translate increasing awareness of environmental challenges into long-term practices. Faith communities lack the legislative resources of governmental agencies or the capital of big international corporations. Yet, through humanitarian initiatives, focused inquiry into the relationship between the humanity and nature, and hands-on greening and energy campaigns, religious communities have the power not only to mobilize people but also to create sustainable traditions. After all, the art of religion is to create rites that integrate complex cosmic questions into everyday practices of current and future generations.

Maiju Lehmijoki-Gardner, Ph.D., R.N., is a visiting assistant professor at Department of Theology in Loyola University of Maryland. Her teaching and research focuses on religions, health, and humanitarian issues.