|
JANUARY
20, 2003
ENVIRONMENT
Religion and
environment movement has growth spurt
 The
"What Would Jesus
Drive?" ad campaign asking drivers to forgo gas-chugging SUVs drew
both jeers and cheers. But, like the arrests of 22 religious protesters at the
Department of Energy last spring, it represents the increasing boldness with
which voices of faith are taking stands on environmental issues. National coalitions
have been bolstering and diversifying their membership and now include Muslims,
Jews, Buddhists and Hindus. Meanwhile, more local groups are organizing educational
campaigns and lobbying legislators. Most activity focuses on fuel economy and
global climate change, but in all faith traditions and all regions, groups are
pressing issues they see as critical to being good stewards of the earth.
How have religious
voices affected environmental issues in your state? Is the movement growing?
Are there critics? Watch for regional faith-based groups working on such issues
as alternate electricity sources and old-growth forest preservation. Talk to
area colleges and universities with research programs based on religion and
the ecology. Talk to individuals who, motivated by faith, make the environment
a personal cause.
Why it matters
All major religions view stewardship of the earth as a moral obligation, and
many have issued official positions on the environment. But relatively few people
make it a ministry to work for public change and to educate the folks in the
pews. That number has been steadily increasing, along with awareness of the
ties between ecology and religion.
Skip to background
|
Click
the map for interview sources
in your state and region
|
|
National sources
• Paul Gorman
is founder and executive director of the National
Religious Partnership for the Environment, based in Amherst, Mass. The partnership,
which claims to represent 100 million Americans, is an alliance of major faith
groups and denominations across the spectrum of Jewish and Christian communities
and organizations in the United States. Contact Gorman through 413-253-1515 or
nrpe@nrpe.org.
NRPE's four founding
partners are:
• The Forum
on Religion and Ecology wants to establish religion and ecology as an area
of study and research in universities, colleges, seminaries, and other religiously
affiliated institutions. The forum arose out of a series of conferences on the
world's religions and ecology that were hosted by the Harvard University Center
for the Study of World Religions; the site lists biographies
of contributors from around the United States and from other countries, and
a speakers'
list with their phone numbers. Contact Mary
Evelyn Tucker is professor of religion at Bucknell University in Lewisburg,
Pa., at 570-577-3188, mtucker@bucknell.edu,
or contact 617-384-9516, fore@environment.harvard.edu.
CHRISTIAN
• National
Council of Churches: The Eco-Justice Working Group is based in New York
City. Religious coalitions in 21 states belong to the council's Faith-based
Climate and Energy Campaign. The Working Group posts contacts
for member denominations. Contact 212-870-2385, ecojustice@ncccusa.org.
• The
Rev. Dr. John Chryssavgis was appointed professor of theology at Holy Cross
Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Mass., in 1995. His writings
include Beyond the Shattered Image (Light and Life Publications, 1999),
about Orthodox perspectives of the environment. He serves as theological advisor
to the Patriarchal Commission on Religion and Science (Ecumenical Patriarchate),
which focuses on the environment. Contact 617-850-1255, JChryssavg@aol.com.
JEWISH
• Adam Stern is executive director of the Coalition
on the Environment and Jewish Life, based in New York. The coalition has
been concentrating on fuel economy and climate change, and also will be focusing
on power plants and on children's environmental health. Contact 212-684-6950,
info@coejl.org.
MUSLIM
• Fazlun Khalid directs the Islamic
Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences in Birmingham, England.
He co-edited Islam and Ecology (Cassell Academic; 1992). Our Planet
posts an article he wrote on the Islamic approach to environmental protection
here.
Contact 44 121 440 3500/8218, ahlan@ifees.org.
• Seyyed
Hossein Nasr, a world-renowned scholar on Islam, teaches Islamic Studies
at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. His writings include Man
and Nature: The Spiritual Crisis in Modern Man (Kazi Publications; 1997).
Contact 202-994-5704, zsirat@gwu.edu.
BUDDHIST
• Stephanie Kaza is associate professor of environmental studies at the
University of Vermont in Burlington, where she teaches courses on religion and
ecology, including Buddhism and ecology, and on environmental philosophy. She
is a practicing Soto Zen Buddhist and is co-editor of Dharma Rain: Sources
of Buddhist Environmentalism (Shambhala, 2000). Contact 802-656-0172, skaza@zoo.uvm.edu.
• Kenneth Kraft
is professor of religious studies at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., where
he teaches about Buddhism and ecology. His books include The Wheel of Engaged
Buddhism: A New Map of the Path (Weatherhill, 1999), on spiritual responses
to social and environmental issues, and, as co-editor, Dharma Rain: Sources
of Buddhist Environmentalism (Shambhala, 2000). Contact 610-758-3370, klk2@lehigh.edu.
HINDU
• Vasudha
Narayanan is a professor of religion at the University of Florida in Gainesville,
and she specializes in Hinduism and the environment. 352-392-1625, vasu@religion.ufl.edu.
Background
• A helpful
roundup
of many religions' views on the environment is posted by Palomar College
in California.
• Read a 2002
story by Elizabeth Kadetsky on beliefnet.com about Western and Eastern religious
leaders' increasing activism on environmental issues.
• Read a Jan. 9, 2003 Associated
Press story posted on beliefnet.com on how faith groups are addressing environmental
issues in the United States and abroad.
• Twenty-two religious leaders were arrested in May 2001 as they protested
President Bush's energy policy outside the Department of Energy in Washington,
D.C. Read a May 14, 2001 Episcopal
News Service story.
• Religions
of the World and Ecology web site.
• The American Academy of Religion has a Religion
and Ecology Group web site.
• Religious Studies in
Secondary Schools, a coalition of public and private secondary school teachers,
in partnership with The Forum on Religion and Ecology will hold a workshop
on connections between religion and ecology June 20-26 at Bucknell University
in Lewisburg, Pa. Read more about the RsiSS/FORE partnership here.
Contact seminars@rsiss.net.
• The journal Daedalus' issue
on world religions and ecology.
• The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops posts the "Joint Declaration
on Articulating a Code of Environmental Ethics" issued by Pope John Paul
II and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople here.
The statement was echoed by Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the Catholic
bishops' conference, and by Archbishop Demetrios, primate of the Greek Orthodox
Church in America.
• Read a Nov. 29 Washington Times article, "Greens
Use Jesus to Drive Home a Point" that traces the roots of the religious
environmental movement.
• Read a Nov. 22 Christian Science Monitor article, "Should
Churches Convert Drivers of SUVS?"
• The Sacramento Bee posts George F. Will's Nov. 28 column "The
Spin on SUVS and Doomsday" here.
|
