User:Alan Liefting/Environmentalism and Religion
- DRAFT ONLY
This article examines the comparison between environmentalism and religion and the environmental awareness within religious organisations.
Environmentalism is occasionally seen by some to be a new religion and some religions are embracing the environmental message as part of their teachings.
Environmentalism within religious organisations
[edit]The greening of religion??
History
[edit]A landmark meeting between five of the major faiths was organised by the World Wildlife Fund in 1984. Since then there has been many forums involving religion and the environment.
Rationale
[edit]Some faiths are seeing environmental damage as going against Gods will.
Comparisons between environmentalism and religion
[edit]There are some who see environmentalism as a new religion notably Michael Crichton after his speech to the Commonwealth Club on September 15, 2003. While environmentalism can be pursued with a religious fervour it does not involve the faith in a supernatural being. Since religion is characterised by having a belief in a God or Gods it follows that advocates for environmental protection are not doing it as part of a religion. The argument made by Crichton and others who compare modern-day environmentalism to religion, however, is that many environmentalist diefy nature, the environment, or the earth. They also claim that the modern-day environmental movement manifests common mythological structures of religion, including such things as cataclysmic prophesies, judgement, atonement, saints, sinners, prophets, etc., which they see as having analogs in environmentalism.
References
[edit]- Worldwatch Institute - Invoking the Spirit: Religion and Spirituality in the Quest for a Sustainable World (2002)
External links
[edit]- Quakerinfo - Quaker Environmentalism
References - shift to talk page when finished?
[edit]- Richard Norgaard, “Can Science and Religion Better Save Nature Together?” BioScience, September 2002, p. 842;
- Michael Renner, “Ending Violent Conflict,” in Lester R. Brown et al., State of the World 1999 (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1999)
- David Loy, “The Religion of the Market,” in Harold Coward and Daniel Maguire, Visions of a New Earth: Religious Perspectives on Population, Consumption, and Ecology (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2000)
- Gary Gardner and Brian Halweil, Underfed and Overfed: The Global Epidemic of Malnutrition, Worldwatch Paper 150 (Washington, DC: Worldwatch Institute, 1999).
- http://www.webofcreation.org/ncc/anwr.html
- http://www.rsesymposia.org
- http://environment.harvard.edu/religion/publications/journals/index.html
- http://www.tibet.com/NewsRoom/panchen1.htm
- http://www.adherents.com
- http://www.religionsandconservation.org
- http://www.Ecozoic.com/eco/CarlPope.asp
- http://web.outsidemag.com/magazine/200103/200103christian3.html
- http://www.bic-un.bahai.org/93-0614.htm
- http://www.goarch.org/en/news/releases/articles/release8113.asp
- http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/pope0264ia.htm
- http://www.uua.org/aboutuua/principles.html
- http://www.rsesymposia.org/symposium_iv/Common%20Declaration.pdf.
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,2763,761857,00.html
- http://www.newdream.org/faith