NOV. 12, 2007

ENVIRONMENT
A source guide on religion and the environment

Every religious tradition defines its relationship to the natural environment. In the United States' religious history, that relationship has been most frequently drawn from Genesis 1:28: “And God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth” (KJV).

For a long time, Judeo-Christian theologians generally agreed that this passage means God intends for mankind to use creation as he sees fit, placing human beings above all other living things, animal or vegetable, in importance. But in the 1960s, as the secular environmental movement was born with the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, a different interpretation of Genesis gained credence. Many theologians now interpret “dominion” as stewardship, pointing to Genesis 2:15, where man is put in the Garden of Eden “to dress and keep it.” They hold that God intends for human beings to care for, not dominate, the natural world.

Now the religious environmental movement is blooming in depth, diversity and impact. Most faith groups are actively pursuing environmental goals, and thousands of individuals motivated by faith are addressing environmental concerns, often through personal behavior or secular groups. There remain, however, some significant disagreements among religious groups. Most major U.S. denominations have official statements on the environment, mostly crafted in the 1980s and early 1990s, that adhere to one of the two interpretations of “dominion.” In the last five years, a concern for all manner of environmental challenges – overpopulation, consumerism, global warming, world agriculture and natural resource usage – has moved up on the priority lists of many faith groups. Today, groups as different as evangelical Christians, Unitarian Universalists and Conservative Jews sometimes find themselves working together on environmental issues, whether trying to influence government policy or turning their own congregations “green.”

Environmentalism has also taken hold among other faiths, whose numbers have grown in the U.S., in part through immigration. Today, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and followers of other religions are approaching environmentalism through the prism of their beliefs.

How to use this guide

Sources are organized into numerous categories. Click on the topic to jump to it. Sources may appear in more than one category.

Organizations
    Think Tanks
    Religious
        Christian
        Jewish
        Muslim
        Multifaith
    Denominational Ministries And Statements
    Secular Organizations With Religious Partnerships
National Sources
    General
    Academics
        Scholars Who Focus On Religion In General And The Environment
        Scholars Who Focus On A Single Religion And The Environment
        Christianity
        Islam
        Judaism
        Hinduism
        Buddhism
        Other
Timeline
Background

If you would like to be added to this source listing or request a change in the information, please email environment@religionlink.org. If you are requesting a change in the wording of your listing, please state the reason for the change. ReligionLink reserves the right to decide which listings to include.
• For organizations, include the name, mission, Web site and a contact name with phone number and email. Also include any specific areas of interest and expertise.
• For individuals, include name, title, organization, city and state, Web site, areas of expertise, phone number and email.

Organizations

THINK TANKS
• The Au Sable Institute of Environmental Studies defines its mission as promoting “knowledge of the Creation with biblical principles for the purpose of bringing the Christian community and the general public to a better understanding of the Creator and the stewardship of God’s Creation.” It conducts programs to promote Christian environmental stewardship through academic and community programs, outreach and retreats. The institute maintains campuses in Michigan, Washington, Florida and India. Edward A. Johnson is its president. Contact 616- 526-9952.
• The Elliott Allen Institute for Theology and Ecology is a Christian teaching and research institute associated with the University of Toronto in Canada. Dennis Patrick O’Hara is director. Contact 416-926-1300 ext. 3408.
• 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. Contact Mary Evelyn Tucker, 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.
• The International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature & Culture is an organization of experts on religion, cultures, geographies and their environmental concerns. The society will host its second international meeting in January 2008 on the subject of science, ethics and metaphysics. The society is co-sponsoring another conference, on esotericism, religion and nature, in Charleston, S.C., in spring 2008. Terry Terhaar at the University of California at Santa Cruz is the society’s executive director. Contact terry@religionandnature.com.

RELIGIOUS

DENOMINATIONAL MINISTRIES AND STATEMENTS
• The National Council of Churches of Christ Eco-Justice Programs maintains an anthology of environmental statements of 14 member denominations. Contact info@nccecojustice.org.
• The Episcopal Ecological Network is a ministry of the Episcopal Church that advocates on behalf of the church for care of the environment. A list of steering committee members based across the United States is posted.
• The Environmental Education and Advocacy program of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America provides resources of ELCA churches on caring for creation. Contact Mary Minette, director, 202-626-7935, mary.minette@elca.org.
• The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America adopted a social statement titled “Caring for Creation: Vision, Hope and Justice” in 1993. Contact Frank Imhoff, associate director for news, 773-380-2955.
• The Lutheran Earthkeeping Network of the Synods is a program of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America designed to foster care for the planet among ELCA congregations. Madison Christian Community in Madison, Wis., is a member of LENS and uses solar power. Contact Jeff Wild, pastor, 608-836-1455.
• The Mennonite Creation Care Network encourages the church to engage in care of the environment and serves as a network for Mennonites engaged in that work. Luke Gascho heads the network, which is based in Wolf Lake, Ind. Contact 260-799-5869, lukeag@goshen.edu.
• Presbyterians for Restoring Creation is a grass-roots national organization of Presbyterians associated with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) who are concerned about the environment and work to support the church’s environmental statements and goals. Its coordinator is Rebecca Barnes-Davies, 415-451-2826.
• The Southern Baptist Convention passed a statement on evangelicals and environmentalism at its 2006 annual meeting. Contact the SBC Executive Committee Office for Convention Relations, 615-782-8610.
• The Unitarian Universalist Association has a Ministry for Earth that certifies UU congregations as “green sanctuaries.” The denomination maintains a list of its statements on environmental justice, climate change, and green buildings and practices. The Rev. Katherine Jesch is coordinator of the Green Sanctuary program, which is based in Lyme, N.H. Contact katherine.jesch@uuministryforearth.org.
• The United Methodist Church’s General Board of Church and Society has a statement on the natural world. Contact John Hill, program director for economic and environmental justice, 202-488-5654
jhill@umc-gbcs.org.
• The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism issued a statement on the environment at its 2003 convention. Contact Rabbi Jerome Epstein, executive vice president, 212-533-7800, Epstein@uscj.org.
• The theology department at Marquette University maintains a Web page on the Catholic Church’s statements and policies on ecological degradation. The site includes papal statements, encyclicals, addresses, letters and pastoral statements by bishops.

SECULAR ORGANIZATIONS WITH RELIGIOUS PARTNERSHIPS
• The Alliance of Religions and Conservation is an international secular organization that works to help religious bodies develop environmental stewardship programs. It’s based in Bath, England. Contact +44 (0)1225 758 004, info@arc.org.
• The Cedar Tree Institute works with organizations, including religious groups, to develop environmental projects in Northern Michigan. Contact 906-228-5494.

Click the map for interview sources in your state and region

National sources

GENERAL
• The Rev. Jim Ball is president of the Evangelical Environmental Network in Washington, D.C. Contact 678-541-0747, een@creationcare.org.
• Edward Brown is the founding director of Care of Creation, a Christian environmental mission agency based in Madison, Wis. He is the author of the forthcoming Our Father’s World: Mobilizing the Church to Care for Creation (2008). Contact 608-469-7821.
• John Carr is the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ secretary for social development and world peace and was a participant in the Vatican’s “Climate Change and Development” 2007 seminar. He is on the board of trustees of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment. Contact via the communications department of the USCCB, 202-541-3000, commdept@usccb.org.
• Cassandra Carmichael is director of the National Council of Churches’ Eco-Justice Programs. Contact 202-544-2350, info@nccecojustice.org.
• The Rev. John Chryssavgis is the theological adviser to the ecumenical patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America on environmental issues. Chryssavgis’ writings include Beyond the Shattered Image, about Orthodox perspectives of the environment. Contact JChryssavg@aol.com.
• The Rev. Richard Cizik is vice president for governmental affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals. He has been a major proponent of creation care. Last year, the signers of the Interfaith Stewardship Alliance’s open letter to the NAE’s president called on him to keep Cizik from speaking out about global warming. Contact 202-789-1011, govaffairs@nae.net.
• Calvin DeWitt is a professor of environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a co-founder of the International Evangelical Environmental Network and an adviser to the National Religious Partnership for the Environment. He identifies himself as an evangelical Christian. Contact 608-265-2564, cbdewitt@wisc.edu.
• Paul Gorman is the founder and executive director of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment in Amherst, Mass. The partnership, which says it represents 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 413-253-1515, nrpe@nrpe.org.
• Selena Fox is a high priestess and senior minister of Circle Sanctuary, a Wiccan church and pagan resource center near Mount Horeb, Wis. One of the group’s main concerns is environmental preservation. Contact 608-924-2216, selena@circlesanctuary.org.
• Rebecca Greenwood is the author of Destined to Rule: Spiritual Strategies for Advancing the Kingdom of God (2007), in which she discusses the role and responsibilities of Christians as “rulers” over creation. Contact via Chosen Books publicist Adam Ferguson, 616-676-9185 ext. 395, aferguson@chosenbooks.com.
• Fazlun Khalid directs the Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences in Birmingham, England. He co-edited Islam and Ecology. He wrote an article for Our Planet on the Islamic approach to environmental protection. Contact 44 121 440 3500/8218, ahlan@ifees.org.
• Rabbi Steve Gutow 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 212-532-7801.
• The Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd III is dean of the Washington National Cathedral and an Episcopal priest who has preached from the cathedral’s pulpit about global warming and the need for Christians to act. Contact 202-537-6200, dean@cathedral.org.
• Evonne Marzouk is executive director of Canfei Nesharim, an organization of Orthodox Jews committed to preserving the environment. It is based in New York City. Contact 212-284-6745, canfei.nesharim@verizon.net.
• Jesse Miranda is president of Alianza de Ministerios Evangélicos Nacionales (AMEN), a multidenominational association of Hispanic Protestant lay and clergy leaders in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada and Mexico. The alliance is based in Costa Mesa, Calif. He was one of the signers of the Evangelical Climate Initiative. Contact 714-556-3610 ext. 254, jmiranda@vanguard.edu.
• The Rev. Richard John Neuhaus is editor in chief of First Things, president of the Institute on Religion and Public Life in New York City and a signer of the Cornwall Declaration. Contact 212-627-1985.
• Robert Royal is president of the Faith and Reason Institute in Washington, D.C., and a signer of the Cornwall Declaration. Contact 202-289-8775, info@frinstitute.org.
• Rabbi David Saperstein is director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. Contact via aide Alexis Rice, 202-387-2800, arice@rac.org.
• The Rev. Louis P. Sheldon is chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition in Washington, D.C. He was one of the signers of the Interfaith Stewardship Alliance’s letter to the National Evangelical Association president urging that the NAE not take “any official position” on global warming. Contact 202-547-8570.
• Ronald Sider is the president of Evangelicals for Social Action and a professor of theology, holistic ministry and public policy and director of the Sider Center on Ministry and Public Policy at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wynnewood, Pa. He has written several books, including Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: Moving From Affluence to Generosity, a 1977 book widely recognized as fueling the current Christian movement to care for the environment. Contact 484-384-2990.
• The Rev. Robert A. Sirico is president of the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty and a signer of the Cornwall Declaration, which calls concerns about manmade global warming “unfounded or undue.” Contact 616-454-3080, rsirico@acton.org.
• Dr. J. Matthew Sleeth is a medical doctor and former emergency room director and chief of medical staff who now writes, preaches and teaches full time about faith and the environment. He is executive director of A Rocha. He wrote Serve God, Save the Planet: A Christian Call to Action (2007). Contact contact@servegodsavetheplanet.org.
• The Rev. Jim Wallis is founder and editor of Sojourners, a progressive evangelical magazine in Washington, D.C., and a signer of the Evangelical Climate Initiative statement. Contact through Jack Pannell, 202-745-4614, media@sojo.net.
• Rabbi Arthur Waskow is a Reconstructionist rabbi who is director of the Shalom Center, which promotes activism and education around Jewish environmentalism. Contact 215-844-8494, awaskow@shalomctr.org.
• Donald E. Wildmon is chairman of the American Family Association in Tupelo, Miss. He signed the Cornwall Declaration, which calls concerns about manmade global warming “unfounded or undue.” Contact through Diane O’Neal, 662-680-3886.

ACADEMICS

SCHOLARS WHO FOCUS ON RELIGION IN GENERAL AND THE ENVIRONMENT
• J. Baird Callicott is a professor of philosophy and religious studies at the University of North Texas in Denton and president of the International Society for Environmental Ethics. He has written several books, including In Defense of the Land Ethic: Essays in Environmental Philosophy and Earth’s Insights: A Multicultural Survey of Ecological Ethics From the Mediterranean Basin to the Australian Outback. Contact 940-565-2266, callicott@unt.edu.
• Thomas Richard Dunlap is a history professor at Texas A&M University in College Station. He is the author of Faith in Nature: Environmentalism as Religious Quest. Contact 979-845-7107, t-dunlap@tamu.edu.
• Nancie Erhard is an assistant professor of comparative religious ethics at St. Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. She is the author of Moral Habitat: Ethos and Agency for the Sake of Earth (2007). Contact 902-420-5823, nancie.erhard@smu.ca.
• Richard C. Foltz is an associate professor of religion at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. He is the author of Worldviews, Religion and the Environment: A Global Anthology. Contact 514-848-2424 ext. 5730, rfoltz@alcor.concordia.ca.
• Roger S. Gottlieb is a philosophy professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Mass. He has written several books on religion and the environment, including A Greener Faith: Religious Environmentalism and Our Planet’s Future (2006), and he edited Oxford Handbook of Religion and Ecology (2006). Contact 508-831-5439, gottlieb@wpi.edu.
• Bron Taylor is president of the International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture, and a professor of religion at the University of Florida, where he teaches many courses on religion and ecology. He oversees the university's master's and doctoral programs in religion and nature and is the editor of the the Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature and the Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture. These resources and Taylor's own work on nature religions, can be found at www.religionandnature.com. Contact 352-392-1625, ext. 127, bron@religion.ufl.edu.
• Mary Evelyn Tucker is a senior lecturer and research scholar in the forestry and environmental studies and in religious studies at Yale University in Hartford, Conn. She is the author of Worldly Wonder: Religions Enter Their Ecological Phase and co-coordinator of Harvard University’s Forum on Religion and Ecology. Contact maryvelyn.tucker@yale.edu.
• Paul Waldau is an assistant professor at Tufts University in Boston and director of its Center for Animals and Public Policy. He has taught a course in religion and ecology. Among his specialties is the way different world religions view animals. Contact 508-887-4671, paul.waldau@tufts.edu.
• Harold G. Coward is professor emeritus of history and founding director of the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society at the University of Victoria in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He has written about religious perspectives on population and consumption. Contact 250-721-7382, hcoward@uvic.ca.

SCHOLARS WHO FOCUS ON A SINGLE RELIGION AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Timeline

A timeline of the religion and environment movement in the United States:
• In 1967, historian Lynn White Jr. wrote an article for Time magazine in which he slammed American Christianity for not caring about the environment. Christianity, White wrote, “bears a huge burden of guilt” for promoting “dominion” theology, which he said permits people to misuse the environment.
• In 1970, the first Earth Day was celebrated.
• In 1973, 40 evangelical leaders signed the Chicago Declaration of Evangelical Social Concern. That group eventually became Evangelicals for Social Action, which made “creation care” one of its four main concerns. Twenty years later, another group of evangelical leaders signed an updated version, called the 1993 Chicago Declaration.
• During the 1990s, a pair of competing statements on Christians’ relationship with the environment focused attention on the issue. In 1994, An Evangelical Declaration on the the Care of Creation asserted a Christian responsibility for “creation care.” In 1999, the Cornwall Declaration on Environmental Stewardship answered with a defense of the concept of human dominion over the Earth and the importance of private property rights trumping government regulations.
• In 1992, then Vice President Al Gore and Carl Sagan convened a meeting of the leadership of the major organizations in American Jewish life, eminent rabbis, denominational presidents and Jewish U.S. senators in Washington, D.C., to discuss the creation of a Jewish response to the mounting environmental crisis. One year later, the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life was founded.
• In 2002, the University of Florida initiated the country’s first doctoral program in religion and nature. The same year, the Evangelical Environmental Network launched the “What Would Jesus Drive?” campaign to focus attention on fuel efficiency. The program attracted major media attention to the growing Christian environmental movement.
• In 2006, a divide opened between American evangelical leaders on the subject of global warming. In February, 86 evangelical leaders signed the Evangelical Climate Initiative, a statement that calls for legislation that would reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Among the signatories were presidents of 39 evangelical colleges and leaders of aid groups and churches, including the Salvation Army and megachurch pastor Rick Warren. In July, 22 other evangelical leaders, under the banner of the Interfaith Stewardship Alliance, wrote a letter to Ted Haggard, then the president of the National Association of Evangelicals; the letter cast doubt on current climate science and asked the NAE to refrain from adopting any official position on global warming. Among those signatories were Charles W. Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries; James C. Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family; and Richard Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.
• In 2007, the Vatican held a seminar titled “Climate Change and Development,” its first seminar on global warming. At the seminar’s end, Pope Benedict XVI told the assembled scientists the world must find a way to “respect creation” while “focusing on the needs of sustainable development.”

Background

• Palomar College in San Marcos, Calif., maintains a Web site outlining the approaches of different religions to the environment.
• Harvard Divinity School’s Center for the Study of World Religions maintains a section on religions of the world and ecology. Harvard’s Forum on Religion and Ecology maintains a page outlining all the major world religions’ relationship to the natural world.
• Read the text of the Evangelical Climate Initiative and its list of signatories.
• The Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty maintains a page of resources on environmental stewardship. It includes the Cornwall Declaration and a list of its signatories as well as commentary on many subjects involving religion, the environment and religious environmental activism, goals and positions.
• Hillel, a foundation that fosters Jewish life on college campuses, has a list of Jewish religious and secular organizations that work to improve the environment in Israel and the Middle East.
• Read a 1997 report titled The Greening of Mainline American Religion, by Mark Shibley and Jonathon Wiggins, as it appears on the Web site of Sage Journals.
• Read “Climate Change: An Evangelical Call to Action,” the statement released Feb. 8, 2006, by the Evangelical Climate Initiative.
• Read “An Open Letter to the Signers of ‘Climate Change: An Evangelical Call to Action’ and Others Concerned About Global Warming,” by the Interfaith Stewardship Alliance.
• Read “A Call to Truth, Prudence and Protection of the Poor: An Evangelical Response to Global Warming,” by the Interfaith Stewardship Alliance.
• Read the Cornwall Declaration on Environmental Stewardship as posted on the Web site of the Interfaith Council for Environmental Stewardship.
• Read An Evangelical Declaration on the Care of Creation of 1994 as posted on the Web site of the Evangelical Environmental Network.